The Pike Liberal Arts volleyball team played tough Tuesday but was edged out by Hooper Academy in four sets, 25-21, 25-17, 25-11 and 25-23.

It was a match of long scoring runs between the Patriots and Colts. The first set stayed tight the enter game, neither team got up by more than three points and with the Patriots down 21-19, they rallied to score the final six points giving them the early advantage in the match.

“I told them we started out playing good and then we maid a couple of mistakes. It’s hard to come back from those,” said Kellen Shirley, head volleyball coach for the Patriots. “In the last game we were up by eight points ahead and we let them come back and win.”

The Patriots kept it tight in the early stages of the second set, but with the Patriots trailing 10-9, the Colts went on a 11-0 run to pull away from the Patriots with a 21-9 score.

Although competitive throughout most of the night, Shirley believes there was just something missing.

“We did struggle,” Shirley said. “I changed things up in that first set and we won. In the second game we went back to what we usually do and we lost it.”

PLAS lost to Hooper earlier this year and Shirley said that match may have influenced Tuesday’s games.

“I think that was stuck in their heads tonight,” Shirley said. “They knew they could win, but their confidence was down. I think they went into this game a little discouraged, but wanting to win it at the same time. I think enthusiasm was defiantly something that was missing tonight.”

PLAS struggled with communication the entire evening and it played a big role in the third set. Numerous balls were dropping in between Patriot players for easy points.

After dropping the third set by a 25-11 score, the Patriots played well to start the fourth set by jumping out to an 8-0 lead. From there the Colts rattled off five straight points to get them right back in the game. The Patriots were able to hold the lead for the majority of the set until the Colts were finally able to tie the score at 19 a piece. The Patriots tried to regain the lead but fell 25-23.

“When you’re ahead you have to stay ahead, you have to keep fighting and go for it,” Shirley said. “You have to work hard for every point and not get comfortable when you have a big lead like that.

Carli Barron finished the night for the Patriots with 16 assists while Tori Ash finished with one block and two kills. Mya Terry had four kills and Maggie Phelps Phelps finished with a team high five kills.

The Patriots find themselves just a couple weeks shy of the start of regional play and Shirley is starting to see signs of improvement.

“Even though we haven’t won a lot, we have definitely have made some strides,” Shirley said. “We have improved as a team all together. We just need to keep improving. We will make personal and team goals if that is what we need to do.

The Patriots volleyball team will be back in action Thursday when they travel to Cecil to play Macon East. The junior varsity team will start at 3:30 p.m. with the varsity team to follow.