HILLMAN - Jan. 22, 2007 - Close wasn't quite good enough for the Hale volleyball team on Monday.

Three of the Eagles' four games with Hillman ended in a 25-23 score; unfortunately, Hale lost two of them and suffered a 19-25, 23-25, 25-23, 23-25 setback to the Tigers.

"What really adds to the disappointment is that the girls served 93 percent -- our best of the year," said Hale coach Kristi Benedict. "I had three girls serve 100 percent and two that only missed one serve.

"We had a big lead in the second game, but we allowed Hillman to come back and win. I though the girls were going to come back and win in the fourth, but they couldn't quite pull it off. We had too many errors on our side of the net and Hillman covered the floor well.

"Things just weren't coming together for the girls like they did (the previous Thursday) against Fairview. We were all disappointed."

Terra Kelso had 21 digs; Heather Albaugh had 20 digs; Rachel Maher had 12 assists and 24 digs; Elizabeth Lerczak had two aces, and 21 digs; Tarra Caverly had six aces, 16 assists, 13 kills and 21 digs; Rachel Bunner had three kills and eight digs; and Sabrina Provoast had three aces, 10 kills, 48 digs and two blocks.

The Eagles dropped to 4-6 (3-2 North Star League) while Hillman improved to 8-3-1 (4-2).