Pioneers Fall Twice on Opening Day

Pioneers Fall Twice on Opening Day- Wil Teague, Sports Information Director, 8/29/25

Crowley's Ridge Volleyball fell in both matches of the season-opening day at FHU's Labor Day Classic. The Pioneer faced a game one sweep loss to the hosting Lions in game one before falling to Tennessee Southern in 4-sets in game two. 

Game 1

Henderson, TN- In the season's opening set, the Pioneers rallied their best offensive performance of the matchup, hitting .333% against the hosting FHU Lions, but would fall by an eight-point gap, credited to a 5 consecutive ace run from the Lions to pull away and cap the set. Nevertheless, the Pioneers rallied back in set two by forcing an early timeout by the Lions after a service ace by Amiyah Saxton lifted the Pioneers ahead 8-2, but a resistant Lion attack would chip their way back into the set, fending off the Pioneers in the late stages and forcing extra frames. Both teams went back and forth in the middle frame before the Lions again scraped past the Pioneers, this time with a score of 29-27, giving them the 2-set lead. With the match's momentum and the Pioneer offense seeing its lowest hitting percentage of the contest, the Lions wasted little time finishing off CRC in the contest by double digits in frame three. 

Junior Brooklyn Cross led the team in kills with 6, junior Amiyah Saxton led the team at the net with 5 blocks, red-shirt sophomore Kyrsten Bake led the team in digs with 7, and sophomore Alyssa Dirden led the team in service aces with 4. 

Game Two

Henderson, TN-The Lady Pioneers picked up their first set win of the year in the opening frame of game two, bouncing back from their straight set loss against Freed-Hardeman. Junior Brooklyn Cross led the Pioneers to a 25-20 set win over Tennessee Southern with the middle blocker linking up with sophomore setter Maddie Burris and finding hardwood for a set-clinching kill. Though despite this quick pace start, CRC faced retaliation from Tennessee Southern as the Firehawks didn't seem to mind the uphill battle with UTS responding by claiming the next two sets, 14-25, and 16-25. Now facing a second do-or-die situation of the season, the Pioneers showed grit, forcing extra frames for a second time this Classic, but painfully again would fall in the set, 26-24, dropping to (0-2) on the year.  

Brooklyn Cross led the offense with 7 kills. Amiyah Saxton posted a second consecutive team high performance at the net, snatching 5 blocks for the second game in a row. Alyssa Dirden led the teams in digs with 7 while adding 6 service aces in the loss. 

Up Next: The Lady Pioneers look to bounce back in tomorrow's doubleheader with game one vs Fisk set to begin at 10:00 AM and game two vs Michigan-Dearborn slated for 12:30 PM #GOPIONEERS