Pinecrest entertained a Scotland County team on Tuesday that is seeking its sixth conference volleyball title in a row.

Based on the Scots’ convincing 25-18, 26-24 and 25-22 sweep, they served notice they are again the team to beat in the Southeastern Conference. The Patriots held leads past the midway point of all three games before faltering down the stretch.

Janea Williams led the Patriots, now 11-3 overall and 1-1 in the league, with 13 kills. The Scots, 9-2-2, 2-0, were led by Caroline Pridgen with 15 kills.

“They played with more heart than we did today,” a disappointed Patriot coach Barbara Foxx said. “That’s all that was about.”

After being outscored 8-2 to close out the first set, the Patriots got three kills in a row from Williams to take a 24-22 lead in the second. But Pridgen was on the finishing end of the last three Scot points as the Pats fell 26-24.

Addy George and Uniqwa Morrison had a pair of kills each as the home team jumped out to an 11-5 advantage in the third game. But the Scots came from behind again.

“Skill-wise, we were just as good,” Foxx said. “We made too many errors. When we learn how to play against good competition, we’ll be OK.”

The match featured spectacular digs and long rallies by two young teams that are off to strong starts. Both of the Scot losses and the two ties came from a tournament in South Carolina.

“They’re good, they’re big and they’re tough at the net,” Scot coach David Barnes said of the Patriots. “But I never thought we were hitting on all gears today. The thing is we came from behind twice and from a 24-22 deficit to beat them at their place. That’s good.”

Morrison had seven kills and George and Felicia Painter had six each for the Patriots. Keegan Lynch contributed 14 assists, and Ashleigh McKenzie had eight assists and five digs. Addie Nelson and Ashleigh Welton were credited with six and five digs respectively.

The Patriots were scheduled to travel to Purnell Swett for another conference match on Thursday.