BLUEFIELD, Va. -- All-square at 1-1, Bluefield and West Virginia Tech needed extra points to decide the third set, which went BC's way by a 33-31 score and led to a 3-1 match win on Senior Night at the Dome Gymnasium. Lone senior Emily Smith as well as manager Kaitlyn Groover were honored prior to the game's start, being recognized for their contribution and dedication to the program.

The Lady Rams took six of the first seven points to open a five-point edge and continued to roll through the first set. An 8-4 rally for the hosts opened the advantage to 15-8. Bluefield then took 10 of the following 16 points to claim set one, 25-14.

The Golden Bears responded well in the second thanks to a 10-1 rally. The deficit would be too much to overcome and WVU-Tech pieced together its strongest hitting set of the evening, attacking at a .238 clip en route to the 25-11 set win.

Set three was nip-and-tuck all the way. The Golden Bears held a slim 14-11 lead part way through, but a 3-0 rally from BC including a pair of blocks squared the match at 14-all. Ties followed at 15, 16, 18 and 20, before BC put down back-to-back points for the 22-20 lead. WVU-Tech came back with a pair of poitns to knot it at 22, then faced set point as they held a 24-23 lead.

Lexie Austin came back with a kill to square the match at 24-all, before the team's began trading points back-and-forth. An ace set up another Golden Bear set point, but BC staved off the threat once again thanks to an attack error from the visitors. A Bluefield error provided another set point for WVU-Tech, but Michaela Chiarilli's kill from the left side squared it at 26, then Jasmine Morrow came back with a kill to get BC a set point of its own.

A kill from the visitors squared it again at 27, but Morrow responded with another kill. BC couldn't get it across in three hits on the next point, but a tip earned the Lady Rams its third set point. A service error sandwiched between kills for WVU-Tech squared the set at 30.

An error from Bluefield once again gave the visitors a chance at the set, but BC came back with three straight points to claim the 33-31 thriller set. A block for the 31st point was followed by a kill, while a blocking error from the visitors gave the win to Bluefield.

In the fourth, the teams stood tied at four, but BC used a 6-0 rally to open up a 10-4 advantage. Bluefield continued to carry momentum, also benefitting from 10 hitting errors from WVU-Tech in the set. A 13-4 run built the lead to 23-9. The Golden Bears tacked on a few points late, but BC claimed the 25-13 set for the 3-1 victory.

Morrow's 13 kills paced BC, while Lexie Austin tallied a .444 hitting percentage with nine kills and just one error on 18 attempts. Mikaela Hurst also had a strong attacking performance, putting down six kills and no errors on 18 attempts (.333). Marissa Grice and Channel Flores spread the ball around with 14 assists apiece.

Morrow tallied a team-best 16 digs, while Ellen Johnson added 14 more. Bluefield totaled 16 blocks on the night, with Amber Taylor-Inge and Austin being in on seven assists apiece. Hurst had five block assists and also added a pair of solo blocks at the net.

BC will now wait for Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament seeding. The tournament begins Wednesday in Kingsport, Tenn.