CALDWELL, N.J. -- Senior Reese Sherwood (Salem, Ore.) had 13 kills, hit .444 and added eight assists and six digs as Caldwell Volleyball (1-8) dropped a non-league matchup against Southern Connecticut at Newman Center on Tuesday night.

The Cougars battled back in the first, trailing by 21-12 before three straight points, two on kills by junior RS Natalie Piper (Long Beach, Calif.), pulled them back into the set at 21-15. But Southern reeled off three straight of its own and closed with a 25-16 win.

In set 2, it was the Cougars who had the early edge at 10-4, kills by soph setter Jordan Mack (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and Sherwood capping a 6-1 run for the advantage. CU still led, 12-8, before the Owls (9-7) scored 10 of the next 15 for an 18-13 lead they'd take through to the rest of the set and 25-20 win.

Caldwell kept fighting into the third set, taking leads of 9-5 and 12-6, and still led, 14-9, when the visitors scored five straight and, at 17-17, three more in a row for the 20-17 SCSU lead. Two late kills by Sherwood weren't enough as CU fell by another 25-20 count.

Junior hitter Alexa McEwan (Beachwood, N.J.) had five kills for the Cougars, Mack contributed 15 assists and four digs, and soph Libero Amber Gallo had a game-best 12 digs.

Caldwell is back in action on Thursday, again in non-conference action against an NE10 team at Adelphi, beginning at 7 p.m.