Kathy Peter tallied 19 kills and hit .586 to help the Bears avoid an upset bid at Emory & Henry on Friday night as LR won 3-2. The Bears grabbed wins in the first two sets but the Wasps rallied to force a fifth set that LR won 15-12.

The Bears took the first two sets rather convincingly, winning by counts of 25-14 and 25-17 to grab the 2-0 lead.

However, the hosts wouldn’t go down easily and forced a fifth set with a 25-20 win in the third frame and a 25-22 victory in the fourth.

LR used an early 4-0 run to take a 4-1 advantage in the fifth set and extended the advantage to 9-2 on a kill by Taylor Osborne.

Up 11-4, the Bears would have to hold off one more run from the Wasps. E & H cut the lead to 13-11 and 14-12 before the Bears finished it off with Peter’s 19th kill of the night.

Aasia McNeill had 14 kills and 12 digs and Emmaleigh Allen had 14 kills and 13 digs. Cheyenne Clonch added 11 kills and three blocks. Sydney Karjala dished out 51 assists and had 14 digs to give LR three players with double-doubles. On top of her 19 kills, Peter added six digs and three blocks while Lyndsie Warren chipped in with 15 digs.

This was the first-ever trip for LR to Emory & Henry. The Bears are now 2-0 against the Wasps in program history and will take on Emory & Henry in the regular season finale on Nov. 8.

Peter is up to 175 kills on the season and 91 total blocks. Her 1.20 blocks/set so far this year rank eighth in a single-season in program history.

LR has won four straight and improves to 8-4 in games away from Hickory and 6-3 in true road games.

The Bears improve to 15-5 overall, 9-1 SAC. LR stays in Virginia, taking on UVA Wise on Saturday at 2 p.m. Following that, the Bears will return home for four straight.