The Fort Dale volleyball team’s first loss of the season was a heartbreaker at the hands of Macon-East Thursday here in Greenville.

The Eagles jumped out quickly, winning the first two sets 25-19 and 25-22.

Fort Dale led the third set, which would have won the game, by a score of 9-1 before the wheels fell off.

The Eagles ended up losing the set 16-25, then dropped the fourth set 14-25 and the fifth by a score of 6-15.

“We just got down on ourselves and never recovered,” said head coach Scarlett Anderson.

Anderson said she knows this loss isn’t the end of the season.

“We’ve got a lot left in the season and in us,” she said. “We’re down in the dumps, but it’ll just make us stronger.”

“We’ve got to learn from our mistakes,” Anderson added. “We need to do a better job of covering our backs because they found a lot of open spots.”

Murphy Middleton led the team in digs and blocks with six digs and three blocks.

Emily Boulware had nine kills, and Tiffany Simms was close behind with eight.

Karli Boulware and Erin Taylor had 10 and nine assists, respectively, to lead the Eagles.

Sarah Sims had a number of soft plays at the net, recording six dinks that found a spot in Macon-East’s defense.

“We’ve just got to hope the loss pumps us up,” Anderson said. “We’re going to practice harder, and learn and do better.”

The Eagles traveled to Evangel on Tuesday, where they had no trouble winning the game.

Fort Dale took the win 25-16, 26-24 and 25-21.

Emily Boulware fired nine aces and Karli Boulware had eight assists.

The junior varsity also played well against Evangel, winning 25-23 and 30-28.

Hannah Johnson had a superb performance with 11 aces.

However, the JV was unable to pull out a win against Macon-East, losing 10-25 and 6-25.

Next week the Eagles hit the road, traveling to Hooper on Tuesday and Pike Liberal Arts on Thursday.