LIVINGSTON, Ala. – West Alabama volleyball took Shorter into the only five-set match played inside Pruitt Hall this season, falling short 3-2 to the Hawks in a Gulf South Conference nail-biter on Friday.

The Hawks improve to 20-6 on the season, moving to 15-3 in the league. The Tigers fall to 17-14 overall, dropping to 9-9 in the GSC.

"We did everything we could to win tonight, but it just didn't go our way," UWA head coach Alexis Meeks said. "Obviously, we wanted to come away with a win, but this is the type of loss we can build off of because everyone played such a great game. Now we start preparing for Union on Friday."

After eight lead changes in the first set, UWA and SU traded points before tying the set at 25 apiece. A kill from SU's Tiffani Estep and a UWA attack error gave the Hawks the final two points to win set one 27-25.

The Tigers pulled ahead in set two after a 13-13 stalemate midway through, outscoring the Hawks 12-6 to earn a 25-19 set victory and even the match at 1-1.

The Hawks returned the favor in the third set, going on a 9-3 run to close out a 25-19 victory in set three to regain the lead 2-1.

West Alabama responded in dominant fashion in the fourth set, opening with a 15-2 run and outhitting Shorter .387 to .065 to force a fifth set with a 25-11 win in set four.

Trailing 8-5 before swapping sides in the final set, Shorter fought back to knot things up at 12-12. The Hawks scored the final three points, capping off the 15-12 fifth set win with a service ace from Kelsi Jones.

Yanesha Johnson led the Tigers on both offense and defense, earning a double-double with 19 kills and 20 digs. Briana Sandifer also grabbed a double-double on the night, collecting 13 kills and 18 digs. Liz Woodard rounded out the offensive leaders for UWA, turning in a season-high 16 kills on a .262 hitting percentage. Jaime Lancellot also finished with a season-high 9 kills on a .294 hitting percentage.

Abby Ames led the Tigers defensively with 24 digs, and Callie Murphy picked up 10 digs while racking up 52 assists. Woodard and Taylin McCarver each totaled three blocks in the loss.

Estep led the Hawks' offense with 13 kills, followed by Elizabeth Dowd who finished with 12. Dowd also earned a double-double in the match, tallying 22 digs to lead SU's defense. Cheyenne McLemore totaled 18 digs while Cheyenne Frady and Morgan Cleveland each finished with 14 digs.

The Tigers will hit the road for their final two regular-season matches, beginning with Union in GSC action on Thursday. First serve is set for 7 p.m. at Fred DeLay Gymnasium.