PHILADELPHIA- The La Salle volleyball dropped tight, 3-2 (20-25, 25-16, 19-25, 33-31, 14-16), decision to Davidson on Friday night at Tom Gola Arena. Three Explorers ended up in double digits on kills on the evening including junior Ashley Felton and sophomore Bryanna Davis who tied for a match high with 14 kills apiece.
 
The Explorers held match point at 14-13 in set five, but the Wildcats rallied off three consecutive points to take the decisive set, 16-14, and the match 3-2.
 
La Salle jumped out to an early 8-4 lead in set one, but a 10-1 run by Davidson (10-15, 4-7 A-10) gave it a 14-9 lead from which they never looked back. Sophomore Hannah McGary had four of her 12 kills in the first frame while Felton hit an efficient .600 in the frame converting on three of five swings.
 
The Explorers battled back and evened things up at one set apiece thanks to a convincing 25-16 set two win. Davis and Felton fueled the offense with four kills apiece while they hit .571 and .667 respectively in the frame. They were able to limit the visitors to just a .081 hitting percentage in the frame while La Salle hit .360 and added four blocks.
 
Davidson regained control of the match with a 25-19 set three win. The visitors led from wire to wire in the frame and stretched its lead up to eight points at various points. A service ace from freshman Madison Kuch cut the lead to just three at 19-16, but the Wildcats closed out the set.
 
Set four went to La Salle (6-22, 0-11 A-10) as they fended off elimination with a 33-31 set win. The back-and-forth set saw 15 ties and six lead changes as neither side was able to create much separation. McGary had back-to-back kills to tie things up at 24-24 and fend off two match points from the Wildcats. McGary ultimately gave the Explorers the lead for good and the set ended with a Davidson error. Senior Kelly Perillo fueled the offense with eight kills, hitting .727 in the frame. Freshman Jensen Sharrits had 16 digs in the fourth set alone. The Explorers were able to limit Davidson to just .016 hitting in the set.
 
La Salle had match point at 14-13, but Davidson rallied off two straight points to take the final set 16-14, and the match 3-2. The Explorers held a three point lead at 8-5 midway through the set, but the visitors went on a 6-1 run to take control at 10-8. There were three ties and three lead changes in the tight fifth set. Davis led all players with four kills in the fifth frame while hitting .490. Ultimately four attacking errors and a pair of service errors cost the hosts in the decisive set.
 
Davis and McGary each matched their previous high mark this season in kills in an Atlantic 10 match. Hite ended with 46 assists which set her career mark in a conference match, she also set a career high with 15 digs to give herself just her third double-double on the year.
 
La Salle returns to action on Sunday as they welcome VCU to Tom Gola Arena with first serve at 1 p.m. Prior to the match the Explorers will honor the program's four seniors with a senior day ceremony.