North Greenville suffered a 3-2 upset by the Bobcats of Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, North Carolina. The Crusaders narrowly won the first two sets, but the Bobcats came back to take the final three sets to win the match. Following the loss, NGU now holds a 6-2 conference record, which currently put them 4th in the overall Conference Carolinas standings and 2nd in the Conference Carolinas West Division standings behind Emmanuel College. Katie McManaway and Erin Allen both led the Crusaders with 9 kills each while McManaway led in total attacks with 40.

After an early lead by North Greenville, the Bobcats quickly fought back to tie the set at 8-8. The two teams would exchange points for awhile until NGU went on a 4-0 run to lead 17-13. Trailing 22-17, LMC came back to tie the set with a 6-1 run before the Crusaders scored the final two points to take the opening set with a score of 25-23.

Lees-McRae began the second set by scoring the first three points. NGU fought back with a 5-1 run to lead 5-4. From there, the Bobcats would take over and lead by as much as five. With the set seemingly over, the Crusaders faced a 24-20 deficit. However, they would go on to score the final six points of the set thanks to four kills, a service ace, and an attack error to win the set 26-24.

Momentum swings defined the third set, with the Bobcats beginning the set scoring five straight points. The Crusaders would fight back to cut the deficit to one, but were unable to take a lead. Lees-McRae went on to build a five point lead to make the score 23-18. North Greenville would once again fight back to pull within one point. However, this time the Bobcats would close things out this time due to an attack error to win the set 25-23.

Set four began with another early lead by LMC. North Greenville would go on to take a 13-11 lead, but a 7-0 run by the Bobcats proved to be too much for NGU to recover from. Lees-McRae would ultimately take the set 25-16 to force a fifth set.

The fifth set saw North Greenville begin with a deficit as they would trail 8-3. NGU would nearly make a comeback with a 5-1 run, but the Bobcats followed that with a 5-1 run of their own to make the score 14-9. Two attack errors would allow the Crusaders to inch closer, but LMC would get the final kill to win the thriller.

NGU will return to action tomorrow to take on the King Tornado in Bristol, Tennessee.