AHOSKIE – It wasn’t the senior day 10 members of the class of 2006 had planned or deserved.

Despite fighting from behind at several intervals, the Lady Rams of Ridgecroft School dropped a four-set volleyball match to Terra Ceia Christian School here Tuesday.

“I think it was a matter of we made more mistakes than they did,” veteran Ram coach Nancy Brittenham said. “We made mistakes at crucial points that changed the momentum of the game.”

The Rams got behind early in the first set as Terra Ceia marched out to a 6-0 lead before the Rams got on the board.

After a defensive stop, the Rams got a dig from senior Megan Coker and a kill from Shirley Lee Spruill to trim their deficit to 6-2.

Three points later, the team rallied behind the serve of Lauren Lilley, who rolled off four straight to deadlock the score at seven-all. Along the way, she got a tip from Spruill and a kill from senior Victoria Brown.

The Lady Knights edged back to a 12-8 lead before Coker had back-to-back kills and Spruill recorded an ace as the Rams got the score back even at 12-all.

Senior Jo Revelle Murray served the point that gave Ridgecroft a 15-13 lead and then Coker’s served pushed the advantage to 17-15.

Lilley’s serve was helped by a tip from Brown as the Rams eventually pushed the lead to 22-20.

The score stood 23-22 in favor of the Rams when Murray served back-to-back points and got a kill from Keli Martin to get the Rams a 25-22 victory in the first set.

The tables were reversed in game number two when Terra Ceia won by the same 25-22 final. The Lady Knights led 2-1 early, but the Rams rallied behind great play from Lilley, Brown, Murray and Whitney Liverman to take an 8-4 advantage.

The score stayed even through most of the game with both teams playing staunch defense until TCCS rallied for the win.

Game number three saw Terra Ceia lead 3-0 before Martin’s kill got the Rams on the board.

Murray then rallied the Rams when her tip helped the team hand the serve to Pierce who rallied Ridgecroft to within 8-7.

The Rams took the lead (14-11) behind kills from Martin and Coker, but TCCS rallied and led as much as 22-18.

The game went extra points as both team continued to play solid defense, but TCCS grabbed a 28-26 victory.

In game number four, the Lady Knights took an early 3-1 lead and went on for a 25-21 win.

The loss dropped Ridgecroft to 9-3 and a second place finish inside the Tarheel Independent Conference and a 13-4 mark overall.

Murray led the team with 13-of-15 serving including three aces to go along with 12 assists, one block and one tip.

Defensively the Rams were led by junior Libero player April Piland.

Also having a solid outing were Lilley and Spruill. Lilley was 16-of-17 serving with one kill, nine assists, one block, two tips and three digs. Pierce was 19-of-21 serving with an ace, three kills and three digs.

The Lady Rams will return to action next week when they play at Lawrence Academy in the Tarheel Independent Conference tournament.