MONTICELLO - The University of Arkansas at Monticello volleyball team was defeated by the Lions of Arkansas-Fort Smith at home, Saturday afternoon, by a final score of 3-1.

Final set scores from the match were 17-25, 27-25, 16-25, and 15-25 in favor of the Lions.

UAM drops to 5-9 overall this season.

UAFS improves its overall record to 10-5 on the year.

Arkansas-Monticello staged a powerful comeback midway through the opening set, generating a 6-1 run against UAFS to tie up the match at 14-14, with kills from Maggie Pyles, Vanessa Pawlak, and Aubrey Harrison.

Arkansas-Fort Smith closed out the set with a 7-1 run over UAM after taking advantage of attack errors by the Blossoms for the 25-17 set win.

The Blossoms jumped out to an 8-3 lead over the Lions to begin the second set of play, after taking advantage of errors from UAFS.

UAM was able to close out the set on a 5-1 run as well with kills from Pyles and Pawlak to win the set, 27-25.

The third set of play featured a closely contested battle early on, however the Lions would surge ahead with a 6-1 run to put the score at 19-14, and despite a few additional points from UAM, Arkansas-Forth Smith took the set, 25-16, and a match lead at 2-1.

UAM began what would be the final set of this match on a roll with a 3-0 lead after kills from Kassidy Pomeroy, and Laurene Cushinberry.

UAFS unfortunately rallied back, claimed a lead midway through the set, and went on a 6-1 run to seal set number four at 25-15, and win the match, 3-1 overall.

Senior Vanessa Pawlak led the Blossoms on offense with 17 total kills on 51 overall attempts. She also added four digs to her stat-line as well.

Macy Mitchell recorded a match-high 29 digs in the contest.

Maggie Pyles provided a solid stat sheet of 10 kills and 12 total digs.

Arkansas-Monticello will next host the Muleriders of Southern Arkansas on Tuesday, September 26, in a GAC rivalry match in Monticello, inside Steelman Field House with first serve slated for 6:30 p.m.