MONTREAT, N.C. -- For the fourth time in a matter of 12 days, the Bluefield College volleyball team dropped an Appalachian Athletic Conference match in four sets, as hosting Montreat took the 3-1 victory Tuesday evening at McAlister Gymnasium.

The Cavaliers claimed the opening two sets handily, 25-16 and 25-18, before BC took the third by a 25-23 margin. The fourth set was another close one, but the hosts claimed the 25-22 edge for the 3-1 match win.

Down 2-0 in the match, the teams began the third set neck-and-neck before a 4-0 run from Montreat earned the hosts an 11-7 lead. But, Bluefield challenged and eventually squared the set, 17-all on a block from Marissa Grice and Amber Taylor-Inge.

Montreat scored the next two, but Bluefield used a kill from Grice and an attack error from Montreat to square it once again at 19-19, then claimed the lead off a Mikaela Hust kill. Michaela Chiarilli served up an ace to give BC a 22-20 lead, but Montreal once again pulled even at 22 and again at 23.

Freshman Ellen Johnson was then instrumental in closing out the set, as she logged a kill to break the tie, then had a solo block to give BC the 25-23 win in the set.

Bluefield was able to take an 11-7 lead in the fourth, but Montreat did not go away. The Cavaliers used a 6-2 rally to pull even at 13-13 and the set remained close the rest of the way. The teams were tied on five occasions, with the last being 22-22. But, the hosts took the last three points, two coming by BC attack errors, to claim the set and the match.

The offensive attack for both teams proved to be a struggle as BC hit at a -.032 percentage for the match and Montreat managed a .078 mark. Bluefield recorded 33 attack errors on the evening and the Cavaliers totaled 37.

Bluefield assisted in Montreat's low percentage by totaling 13 team blocks, four being solo and 18 assisted.

Chiarillie led Bluefield with eight kills on the evening. Hurst posted the highest BC hitting percentage at .286, logging three kills to one error on seven attempts. Channel Flores had a team-high 14 assists, followed by nine from Kaitie Shaver. Marissa Grice and Lexie Mocarski each tallied a pair of service aces.

Defensively, Johnson had a team-best 12 digs and Ashlyn VanDyke had nine. Bluefield's strong blocking numbers were led by two solo blocks from Hurst and seven block assists from Grice. Taylor-Inge and Lexie Austin added four and three block assists, respectively.

BC continues AAC action on Friday, traveling to face Reinhardt at 6:30 p.m.