UNIONVILLE – The Cascade Lady Champions came from two sets down to force a deciding fifth set against the Fayetteville Lady Tigers, but the Lady Champs could not hold on to a late lead as the Lady Tigers eked out the win to advance in the District 6-A volleyball tournament Monday night.

Strong serving by the Lady Tigers was the downfall for the Lady Champions in the opening set as Fayetteville took a 25-13 win.

Fayetteville kept the pressure going in the second set and led 21-12 before Cascade got into a groove.

With improved net play, the Lady Champions cut the Lady Tiger lead to 22-19 before falling 25-19.

The momentum from the second set propelled the Lady Champs throughout the rest of the match.

Cascade forced the Lady Tigers into several errors in the third set as the Lady Champs used a 4-0 run to widen their lead en route to 25-15 win.

The confident Lady Champs battled tooth-and-nail with the Lady Tigers in a fourth set that was tied 10 times.

A Caroline Mckamey smash was the exclamation point as Cascade pulled out a 25-23 win.

The Lady Champs led 6-5 in the final set, but Fayetteville took the lead with some effective serving and scored the final four points to take a 15-10 win.

Lady Champion coach Kendall Hampton was happy with a Cascade team that was playing in its first season at the high school level.

"They give effort all the time," Hampton said. "It takes us a while to get going some games, and I think if we could have overcome that this year, we might have had a different outcome."

"It has been extremely challenging," Hampton added.

"We've had a very difficult time using the same group to build that cohesion all season long."

"I couldn't be any more proud of them."

Fayetteville 3, Cascade 2

Set scores: 25-13, 25-19, 15-25, 23-25, 15-10

Hayden Jones 27 assists, 1 Ace

Briana Horn 11 Kills

Sarah Hope Maddox 5 Kills, 4 aces, 2 digs

Val Yatskov 1 kill, 2 blocks

Caroline McKamey 17 Kills, 2 Aces

McCenzie McAnally 3 kills

Ashley Cope 4 digs