Cape Fear Christian Academy’s varsity volleyball team battled, but fell 3-1 to visiting Sandhills Athletic Conference opponent Freedom Christian Academy on Tuesday by scores of 25-22, 25-20, 21-25 and 25-19.

“So, the situation with us is that we need to keep our offense and our defense clicking at the same time,” said Cape Fear Christian coach Paul Hobbs. “When our offense was clicking, our defense wasn’t and when our offense was not clicking, our defense was.

“But, if you look at the scores from the last time we played this team, and this team is full of club players who have been playing for years together and they’re a great team, our points are double against them what they were the last time. It just shows you that even when you don’t win, you can win without winning, if that makes sense.”

Senior Claire Parker had 15 kills, freshman Abby Hobbs had a double-double, with six kills, 15 assists and 13 digs, and senior Marlee Butler had 22 digs to lead the Eagles (9-6, 4-3 SAC).

Mariah Bell had two kills, two digs and one ace on four service points. Larah Tripp had two kills and one dig. Rhyleigh Horne had one kill, seven assists, six digs and two aces on three service points. Taylor Beasley had one kill. Butler had three assists and one ace on four service points. Sara Shaw had two assists, 10 digs and two aces on seven service points. Ella John Dupree had one block and nine digs and held serve for five points. Madeline Brocious had one block, one dig and three aces on six service points. Parker had two digs. Abby Hobbs had three aces on eight service points.

Senior Kendell Williams had 18 kills and one block and freshman Macy Brooks had 33 assists and two aces on 20 service points to lead the Patriots (8-6, 6-1).

Freedom took the lead early in the first set and held an 18-11 lead when the Eagles rallied with seven unanswered points to tie the set. But with the score tied 22-22, a 3-0 Freedom run, including two kills from Williams, ended the set.

The second set was close until, with the score tied 14-14, the Patriots closed the set on an 11-6 run.

Holding an 11-9 lead in the third set, the Eagles got separation with an 8-3 run. Freedom was able to keep the set close, but Cape Fear Christian held on to take the set and extend the match.

With the score tied 4-4, Freedom took control of the set with a 13-4 run. With the Patriots leading 19-11, a Parker kill, assisted by Abby Hobbs sparked a 7-3 run to cut the lead to four. But the Patriots ended the match on a 3-1 run.

Freedom Christian also won the junior varsity match 2-1.

Cape Fear Christian travels to conference opponent Trinity Christian on Thursday before hosting conference rival Northwood Temple on Friday.

“I challenged my back row to work on their footwork over the next couple of days,” coach Hobbs said. “Make sure they’re to the ball, as opposed to running at the ball. If we get that in, the next two games will be great. Moving in a positive direction and I think we’ll continue to be successful this year.”

Freedom takes 4-1 soccer win

Visiting Freedom was a 4-1 winner in the varsity boys soccer contest, a more competitive result than when CFCA was topped, 8-1, by the host Patriots on September 9.

“The guys played quite well for most of the game,” said CFCA coach Michael Breslin.

The Eagles trailed 2-1 at the half as Jackson Breslin had the goal for the hosts.

Will Hobbs started the scoring sequence with a pass to Tripp Selph, who sent the ball forward to Breslin, who found the lower left corner of the net from just inside the 18-yard box.

CFCA will host Fayetteville Christian on Thursday at 4 p.m.