No. 1 seed Life made sure UPIKE couldn’t form a Cinderella story in the Mid-South Conference Tournament on Saturday with a 3-0 defeat of the Bears.
Unlike the matchup the week prior, Life got ahead early with a goal from Thierry Jules in the 12th minute after a short cross got past the defense and into the net off the striker’s foot.
Life continued to dominate possession in the first half and picked up another goal in the 33rd minute. Pikeville was called for a handball in the box and Life converted on the penalty kick.
The Bears started to get some shots off in the second half. One from Jack Burleson and one from Eric Bernabeu were both stopped by the Life goalkeeper.
The Running Eagles picked up an insurance goal in the 77th minute.
Pikeville ends the season at 6-12-1 with the loss.
UPIKE XC competes at MSC championships
UPIKE cross country closed out its season this weekend at the Mid-South Conference Championships.
The men’s team finished eighth and the women’s team finished ninth, while two personal records were set.
Mason Roe led the men’s team with an 8k time of 29:06 in 54th place. Ryan Wolf (56th, 29:27), Benjamin Hall (64th, 30:25), Cade Watson (66th, 30:47), and Jaxon Blaine (67th, 31:00) rounded out the scoring competitors for the Bears.
Trenedy May set a personal record with a time of 34:06 and Christian Whitt ran the course in 41:26. May was named as UPIKE’s representative of the Champions of Character team.
Julia Pernsteiner led the women’s team with a 5k personal record of 21:45 to finish in 40th place.
UPIKE’s other competitors included Hannah Frye (70th, 25:19), Kaitlyn Puckett (71st, 25:40), Emma Blankenship (78th, 29:55), Amber Moore (79th, 31:17), and Paige McPeek (80th, 33:21).
Puckett was also selected as the Bears’ representative on the Champions of Character team.
Cumberland spoils UPIKE volleyball’s senior day
Cumberland (Tenn.) put a damper on UPIKE volleyball’s senior day festivities on Saturday, sweeping the Bears, 3-0 (25-22, 25-15, 25-14).
Pikeville was competitive throughout the match, especially in the first set when the Bears were ahead most of the set.
The Bears held a 15-10 lead in the first set before Cumberland rattled off five straight points to tie it back up. They later scored back-to-back points at 23-22 to take the set.
Both teams hit over .200 in each of the first two sets. Noelani Simpson led the Bears in her final home match with 13 kills and nearly got a double-double with nine digs. UPIKE’s other senior – Autumn Meade — made her presence felt defensively, leading the team with two blocks.
Megan Frazier and Yeryvel Catala both had strong games as well with nine and six kills, respectively.
Set two was also close until a 10-3 run gave the Phoenix the spark it needed to pull away.
Pikeville had similar statistics to Cumberland for the most part, but the Bears’ struggles with service errors thwarted their chances.
UPIKE’s offense began to falter in the third set, when the Bears hit .056 for the set.
UPIKE will play in the play-in game of the Mid-South Conference tournament against Campbellsville.