ATLANTA, Ga. — Birmingham-Southern rallied from a 0-2 deficit to win the final three set to defeat the Washington and Lee volleyball team, 3-2, on Friday at the Emory National Invitational.
 
The Generals (22-6) won the first two sets, 25-23 and 26-24. The Panthers (16-8) evened the contest by taking the third, 25-15, and fourth, 25-21. In the fifth, the score was tied, 3-3, but then a pair of kills by senior outside hitter Val Sokolow (Draper, Utah/Juan Diego Catholic) sandwiched around a BSC attack error pushed the Blue and White in front, 6-3.
 
W&L led 8-5 a few rallies later, but the Panthers won three straight points to even the set, 8-8. The Generals went in front, 9-8, after an attack error by Birmingham-Southern, but then the Panthers notched four straight points to assume a 12-9 advantage.
 
The Blue and White won four of the next five points, including three kills by sophomore outside hitter Sydney Heifner (Nashville, Tenn./Harpeth Hall), to tie the score, 13-13, but BSC secured the set, 15-13, and the match, 3-2, following a W&L attack error and a kill by first-year outside hitter Emily Buhl.
 
Heifner led the team with 18 kills, 18 digs and five blocks, while senior right side Carson Allsteadt (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) had 14 kills on a .278 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Maggie McSwain (Atlanta, Ga./Westminster) totaled seven kills on a .313 hitting percentage with a career-best nine blocks. The nine blocks are tied for the sixth-most in a single match in program history.
 
Junior defensive specialist Caroline Gard (Naperville, Ill./Benet Academy) paced the back row with a season-high 23 digs, and junior setter Ashley Webb (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Westlake) tallied 48 assists, three kills, five blocks and five digs. Sokolow finished the match with six kills and 10 digs.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Gigi Fields led the Panthers with 17 kills, four blocks and four digs. Junior outside hitter Alyssa Coats had 13 kills and 20 digs, and junior middle blocker Leah Nielsen totaled 13 kills.
 
The Generals play Hendrix at 4:00 pm on Friday.