Lynchburg, Va. -- Outside hitters Mesa Willis (Dabneys, Va.) and Sydney Frink (Chester, Va.) combined for 29 of the Lynchburg College volleyball team's 48 kills, but the Hornets dropped a tight 3-1 contest to visiting Guilford in both teams' Old Dominion Athletic Conference opener.

Willis piled up 16 kills and 10 digs for her fifth double-double of the season, and Frink hit a scalding .429 on her way to 13 kills.

Lauren Stanford (Mechanicsville, Va.) led the Hornets' back line with 18 digs.

Christian Ritter led the Quakers with 10 kills and 21 digs.

THE RUNDOWN

Final: Guilford 3, Lynchburg 1 (25-23, 24-26, 25-22, 25-20)

Records: Guilford (6-2, 1-0 ODAC), Lynchburg (5-3, 0-1 ODAC)

Venue: Turner Gymnasium, Lynchburg College, Lynchburg, Va.

HOW IT HAPPENED

- The Hornets led the first set, 20-19, before Guilford ripped off three straight points to take the lead for good.

- Lynchburg fought back after trailing in the second set, 22-16 and 24-21, to win it with five straight points. Frink had three kills in the run, and Lindsey Lang (Poquoson, Va.) clinched the set with one of her seven kills.

- The Quakers put away a back-and-forth third set with consecutive kills by middle Jessica Sheek.

- Lynchburg led the fourth, 20-12, before Guilford came storming back to win 13 of the final 16 points to take the match.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Hornets will defend home court again on Friday, this time against two-time defending conference champion Randolph-Macon (7-3, 1-0 ODAC). The CODE RED match begins at 7 p.m.

--LC--