Through the first few matches of its 2018 season, Seymour’s volleyball team has come out on the favorable side of long matches.

That streak halted against Columbus East.

The Owls dropped to 3-1 on the season, and 1-1 in Hoosier Hills Conference play, with a 25-22, 18-25, 27-25, 21-25, 15-10 loss to the Olympians at the Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium on Tuesday.

The Olympians came out strong, winning the first five points of the match behind four serves from Allison Mack.

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East built a lead as large as 13-4 before the Owls started chipping away at the deficit. Up 17-15, the Olympians took a time out.

The teams exchanged the next two points before the Owls’ Carlee Robinson served up four straight winning points to put Seymour up 20-18.

Seymour’s Abby Schmidt went on to tie the score at 22 with a kill, but the Olympians won the next three points and took the set on a block from Regann Jessee.

Candence Gilley got the Olympians off to a solid start in the second set, as East again won the opening five points on serve.

Seymour answered the East run by winning six straight points on serves from Emily Corcoran to take the lead. The teams tied the score three times before the Owls slowly started to pull away.

A 5-0 run, capped by a block from Makenna Fee, put SHS up 21-12. While East was able to get within reach at 22-17, the Owls buckled down, as a  kill by Blevins tied the match at 1-1 at 25-18.

The Owls got jump in the third set, as Corcoran served up six straight winning points to put SHS up 7-1. The Owls built their lead as large at 15-5, but the Olympians came all the way back.

Winning the next 10 points, East tied the game at 15. After trading the lead twice, the Owls were able to get a small edge at 23-21. Down 24-23, Regann Jessee had a kill to keep East alive. The teams then tied at 25 before an SHS hitting error and hit by Rilee Jesse won the set for the Olympians at 27-25.

SHS again started strong in the fourth set, winning six straight points to lead 7-1. While the Olympians got within four, at 12-6, Seymour was determined to push the match to a fifth set.

The Owls used a pair of small runs to lead 23-14. East go the score to 23-19, but a block on the front line and an Olympians serving error ended the set at 25-21.

East jumped to a 3-0 lead before the Owls tied the fifth set at seven points. A mini 4-0 run, on serves by Regann Jesse, put the Olympians up 14-8 before a serving error by SHS ended the match at 15-10.

“We felt like we came out extremely flat, and could never get the momentum back in the third set,” Owls coach Angie Lucas said. “It’s mental toughness, and in time it will get better. It’s disappointing tonight.

“We just don’t have that push right now. We make too many errors at crucial times. It’s a ton of (errors) all at once. To break that momentum, it’s calling a time out or making a sub, but we only have so many of those. It’s very difficult.”

Blevins led the Owls by going 32-for-37 with 13 kills and Schmidt had eight kills on 22 hits.

Chloe Criswell had 18 digs and Sophia Stahl had 13 assists for SHS.

The Owls struggled with serving the ball, going 88-for-107 with nine aces.

“It is a really good match for us to see where our weaknesses are,” Lucas said. “Serving hurt us tonight and that is supposed to be one of our strengths. It is something that has to improve.”

Seymour will host Bloomington North on Thursday.