ATLANTA, Ga. —  The Washington and Lee volleyball team had two match-point opportunities in the fifth set, but fell against Birmingham-Southern, 3-2, on Saturday in a neutral-site contest at the Emory National Invitational.
 
In the fifth set, the Generals (23-8) led 12-9, but the Panthers (21-5) scored three straight points to even the score, 12-12. W&L won two of the next three points, capped on a kill by first-year outside hitter Maggie McSwain (Atlanta, Ga./Westminster), to go in front, 14-13. B-SC fought off the first match point on a kill by senior outside hitter Milea Ray.
 
The Blue and White answered with a kill by sophomore middle blocker Katy Blain (West Palm Beach, Fla./Benjamin School), but Ray again saved the Panthers with a kill to knot the stanza, 15-15. B-SC then registered a combination block to go up, 16-15, and a ball handling error by the Generals gave the Panthers the set, 17-15, and the match, 3-2.
 
Birmingham-Southern won the first set, 25-17, but W&L took the second, 25-23. The Panthers claimed the third, 25-15, but the Blue and White sent the match to a deciding fifth set by winning the fourth, 26-24.
 
First-year defensive specialist Caroline Gard (Naperville, Ill./Benet Academy) totaled a match-high 38 digs, which is the third-highest single-match total in program history, and the most since set scoring was reduced from 30 to 25. She pushed her season total to 533, which is the fourth-best single-season mark in program history.
 
Junior middle blocker Courtney Berry (Charlottesville, Va./Western Albemarle) led the Generals with 19 kills on a .486 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Leah Green (Longwood, Fla./Lake Highland Preparatory School) notched 13 kills and three blocks, while Blain contributed seven kills and seven blocks.
 
First-year setter Ashley Webb (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Westlake) had 44 assists and 10 digs, while junior right side Kiera Borthwick (Northville, Mich./Northville) added 13 digs, six kills and two blocks.
 
Senior middle blocker Rebecca Erwin led the Panthers with 19 kills, and first-year outside hitter Alyssa Coats had 18 kills and nine digs. Erwin and first-year middle blocker Leah Niesen each had seven blocks.
 
The Generals played second-ranked Emory later on Saturday.