SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Wofford let a big first-set lead slip away and it proved costly in a four-set loss to East Tennessee State University (23-25, 17-25, 32-30, 23-25), in Southern Conference action Wednesday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena.
 
The Terriers led 17-10 in the first set, but surrendered 14 of the next 17 points. ETSU earned set point at 24-20 and held on to take the opener, 25-23. The Buccaneers then took an 11-1 lead to roll through the second and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Heading into the night, Wofford had already come back to win from 2-0 deficits twice, including its last home outing on October 24 against Mercer. The Terriers made a run at a third comeback, winning a third set that saw 20 ties and five lead changes. Wofford saved three straight match points down 24-21 to tie it up. The Bucs earned match point three more times, failing to convert each time, as Wofford hung tough to turn the set in its favor. The Terriers earned their first crack at the set at 29-28, fought off ETSU's final match point at 30-29 and scored the final three points to force a fourth set.
 
The Terriers led 15-10 when ETSU called its first timeout in the fourth. The lead remained five at 18-13 and a fifth set seemed within reach, but back came the Buccaneers. ETSU put together an 8-1 run to go up 21-19, earned match point ahead 24-22 and finished off the Terriers on Rylee Milhorn's match-high 15th kill of the night.
 
"We were inconsistent and it cost us," said Wofford head coach Lynze Roos. "We will work on fine tuning during our off weekend. We need to step up our play and be ready for the tough challenges of November."
 
Wofford (15-15, 6-7 SoCon) dipped below .500 in conference play with its third straight loss. The Terriers are the only league team that will not play this weekend, returning to action next Wednesday at Furman.
 
ETSU (17-9, 8-5 SoCon) outhit Wofford .195 to .135. Led by Milhorn's 15 kills, three Bucs finished in double figures. Senior Khadijah Wiley was the most damaging, slamming 14 with a match-high hitting percentage of .379.
 
Wofford also put three in double figures. Sophomore Alex Holland posted a team-high 13 kills, but it came with 11 errors to hit .050. Fellow sophomore Bella Santoro also struggled on offense with 10 kills at .028, but did come up with 15 digs to earn her team-leading 13th double-double. Redshirt freshman Lauren Miller was effective on the attack with 11 kills at a percentage of .333.
 
The serve-receive game was also unkind to the Terriers, who had only four aces to go with 11 serving errors. ETSU aced Wofford six times with seven errors.
 
On defense, Wofford was able to out-block ETSU 12-8 and win the battle of digs, 68-66. Freshman Colleen Reilly posted a match-high seven blocks while sophomores Danni Densford and Santoro added five and four, respectively. ETSU's leading blocker was the senior, Wiley, who had five. Milhorn earned four.
 
Buccaneer libero Hailey Aguilar totaled a match-high 29 digs. The Terriers were led by Santoro and senior libero Jessica Graham with 15 apiece.
 
Wofford travels to Furman's Alley Gymnasium next Wednesday. The match is slated for 6 p.m.
 
Terrier Notes:
- Colleen Reilly eclipsed 100 blocks on the season, becoming the sixth Terrier in program history to do so. She is the first since Wendy Burnett in 2012.
- Wofford and ETSU split the season series. The Terriers defeated the Bucs on October 17 in Johnson City in four sets.
- Wofford remains in fifth place in the Southern Conference standings and is now two games behind ETSU for fourth.