MARIETTA, Ga. --- As is often the case in a meeting between Life and Reinhardt Universities, tonight's women's volleyball contest played out as a hard-fought contest, Life U falling behind early, but winning the final three sets to record a 3-1 home victory in the Upper Gym Friday evening.
 
The win sees Life U (3-2) get back above .500 for the season, providing some needed momentum going into their first conference road match next week.
 
The first set saw Life U jump out to a quick lead, but Reinhardt took back the early momentum. A Kennedy Neal ace evened the score at 8-8 in the middle of a 5-0 run that saw Life U take a 10-8 advantage in the middle of the set, but a late Reinhardt surge led to the Running Eagles losing the first set by a tally of 25-21.
 
The second set played out similarly to the first, the teams trading small runs, but neither really pulling away for the majority of the frame. One of Life U's runs came after a well-timed timeout, down 7-5, Life U going on a 5-2 run to take an 11-9 edge. Strong play on the block and capitalizing on Reinhardt mistakes saw the Running Eagles start to pull away late in the set, taking a 20-15 lead following a Chloe Teter kill from K. Neal. Fayola Louis pushed a kill through the block followed by a touch kill from Emilee Brown to earn Life U its first set victory, tying the score 1-1 after two.
 
The third set continued the trend from late in the second, as the Running Eagles toughed out another set. The momentum of the set flipped completely in Life U's favor late, a Teter ace followed by a Cassidy Lee kill and block forcing a Reinhardt timeout as Life U took a 20-15 advantage. K. Neal ended the set 25-19 for the home squad, hitting a great serve that errantly kicked off the receive for an ace.
 
 Life U found themselves in a hole to start the fourth set, but showed resiliency going on a 10-4 run over the middle portion of the set to take a 16-12 lead following a Lena Pucnik kill. Reinhardt managed to pull back within a single score late, but back-to-back Pucnik and Louis kills ended the set and game in the Running Eagles favor.

Statistically, it was not the cleanest hitting day for either team, leading Reinhardt in the stat .189 to .162. The team's were near identical in all the other measurable metrics; Reinhardt holding the 47-44 edge in kills, while Life led blocks 9-6, aces 11-10, and digs 65-60.
 
The Running Eagles hit the road in their next game, facing new Southern States Athletic Conference foe, Talladega, Sept. 10th at 1 PM.