Carly White had a match-high 22 kills and Nicole Powell served an ace on match point as Mount Olive rallied to win the final two sets for a 25-18, 18-25, 25-23, 25-12, 15-10 victory over North Greenville in Conference Carolinas women's volleyball Saturday at Kornegay Arena. With the Senior Day victory, the Trojans clinched a berth in the Conference Carolinas Women's Volleyball Tournament, which gets underway November 8.

Mount Olive's lone senior, defensive specialist Destiny Ma'ave-Kuewa, was recognized during ceremonies prior to the match.

Mount Olive (15-13 overall, 8-8 Conference Carolinas) dropped two straight sets after winning the opener, but evened the match with a double-digit win in the fourth set. The Trojans scored eight of the first nine points in the fourth set and Dezirae Mackey's solo block gave Mount Olive its first double-figure lead at 13-3. Kills by White and Sarah Robertson gave Mount Olive its biggest lead at 20-6 as the Trojans stayed alive for their seventh five-set match of the season.

After spotting North Greenville (14-17, 4-11) the first point of the deciding set, Charnel Austin's ace ignited her seven-point service run and sparked the Trojans to an 8-1 lead for the second consecutive set. North Greenville rallied behind back-to-back aces by Lindsey Elswick and the Crusaders got as close as 12-10.

Erika Conner's kill ended North Greenville's run and a Crusader attack error put Mount Olive within a point of a win. Powell placed a short serve on the North Greenville left side and a diving attempt by a Crusader back row player went out of bounds to end the match.

Mount Olive broke open a tight first set as Austin fisted Powell's serve reception just over the net for a kill to break an 18-18 tie. Austin followed with a pair of aces as she served out the set.

In the second set, Rebekah Mayes had three kills in a four-point span to put North Greenville ahead to stay. Mount Olive cut a five-point deficit down to two, but never got any closer.

Mount Olive grabbed the early lead in the third set as a block by White and Powell gave the Trojans a 14-9 advantage. North Greenville chipped away and eventually took a 22-20 lead after a kill by Lauren Seely. Mount Olive rallied to regain the lead on consecutive kills by Mackey, White and Conner. But North Greenville regained the lead on back-to-back kills by Kendra Meek and won the set on a block by Seely and Kaitlyn Pierce.

Conner and Robertson finished with 12 kills apiece for Mount Olive, while Austin tallied 47 assists and three aces. Lauren Lee led the Trojans in the back row with 14 digs. Mackey and White shared match-high honors with seven blocks apiece as Mount Olive finished with 14 blocks as a team. White recorded only three errors in 36 attempts for a .528 hitting percentage.

Mayes notched a double-double for North Greenville with 18 kills and a match-high 15 digs. Pierce added nine kills and four blocks for the Crusaders, while Abigail Frame had 39 assists. Meek and Elswick finished with three aces apiece. Kaitlyn Harris added 10 digs.

Mount Olive is now assured of earning one of three conference tournament berths from the East Division. The Trojans can finish as high as second in the division and host a first round match in the tournament, but will need to finish a full game ahead of Pfeiffer. Mount Olive lost both regular season meetings to Pfeiffer, giving the Falcons the advantage in case of a tie.

Mount Olive is off until Saturday when the Trojans conclude regular season play with a Conference Carolinas match-up at Wilson, N.C., against Barton. Match time is 7 p.m. North Greenville travels to King Wednesday at 7 p.m. for a Conference Carolinas contest.