UNIONTOWN, PA - The Tigers hit the road for their neutral site matchup against the University of Maine at Fort Kent for their first-round matchup in the USCAA Division 1 Women's Volleyball Championship Tournament. Salem finished the regular season with a record of 5-23 and entered today's matchup as the fourth seed. The Bengals ended their regular season with a record of 17-6 and claimed the number one seed in their division of the bracket.

The postseason has arrived and your Tigers are in the mix. Salem improved vastly from last season where they went 0-32 under new leadership in Matt Carpenter. With him at the helm, the Tigers were able to win five games this year and remained in the mix during the majority of their losses.

The first set of this morning's match began evenly with both teams tied into the middle stages of the set at 10-10. As the set continued the two teams remained deadlocked and this one had a feeling it would go down to the wire. Tied 21-21 it was anyone's set and the Tigers looked to grab one early to set themselves up for a match win. Unfortunately, the Tigers were unable to stop the late push by the Bengals and dropped set one 25-21.

As the second set began it appeared to be more of the same from set one with the two squads tied 8-8. This time the Tigers capitalized on the opportunity presented to them by reeling off a 15-7 run to establish a secure lead at 23-15. The Bengals made a late push to give Salem a run for their money, but the early lead established by the Tigers was too much to overcome as Salem took set two 25-20 and tied the match 1-1.

Halfway into the third set, the Tigers were once again in a position to make a run at a win. The Bengals led 10-12 with Salem looming. With the Tigers down two points at 14-16, the Bengals kicked it into overdrive. They scored seven straight to grow their lead to nine at 14-23. Once again in this match, a large deficit late in the set proved to be too much for the trailing squad as the Tigers dropped set three 15-25 and entered must-win territory going into the fourth set.

Salem came out in the fourth set swinging as they established an early lead at 6-3 and looked like they could make a push to take this match to a fifth and final set to decide the winner. Down three the Bengals responded with a 10-1 run on the Tigers which gave UMFK a 13-7 lead and put the Tigers backs up against the wall. Salem kept the pace of the Bengals as the match progressed, but they needed to go on a run of their own to have a chance at extending the match one more set. Down ten with the end in sight Salem began to claw their way back into the set. Unfortunately for the Tigers, it was too little too late as they lost to the Bengals in the fourth set 15-25 and lost the match 3-1.

The Tigers will be back in tournament action tomorrow against Lyon College (Ark.) at 9am in Uniontown, PA.

SALEM STAT LEADERS:

Kills: Noemi Combi (9)

Aces: Grace Deller (4)

Blocks: Alayna Cox (1)

Assists: McKenzie Clyncke (17)