Martinsville, VA – For four seniors, Friday marked the final time they would don the Green and Gold as the Lady Lions exited the USA South conference tournament with a quarterfinal loss to Averett University 3-1. Since Piedmont joined the USA South in 2012, the Lady Lions have reached the tournament each season, and have had their year cut short by the Cougars each time.
The Lady Lions jumped out in front in the first set to take their lone win of the afternoon in a close 25-23 victory. The teams were tied 15 times in the set including at 23 all before a service ace by senior Jennifer Opper and a ball handling error by the Cougars led to the final two points of the set.
In the second set, momentum swung toward the Cougars as it was close early, but Averett ran away with it ending the set with seven straight points to take the 25-14 win and knot the match up a 1-1. It was again the unlucky seven by Averett that proved to be too much for Piedmont in the third set as the Cougars reeled off another seven straight points after Piedmont had been leading 16-15, stretching their own lead to 22-16 before eventually taking the set 25-18.
In the final set of the match and the season, Piedmont couldn’t seem to get anything going early as Averett jumped out to a 6-1 lead before Head Coach Sid Feldman called a timeout to rally his team. The Lady Lions fought back to being down just a single point at 14-13, but again, the Cougars scored seven straight and eventually sealed the match with a 25-15 win.
Piedmont allowed 58 kills in the match while only recording 35 of its own. Three Lady Lions had 7 kills each as Taylor Cramsey, Jennifer Opper and Mallory Leary all led the team with senior Kaitlin Norman just behind with 6 kills. Senior Xandy Green led the team in assists in her final outing as a Lady Lion with 19 in the match while freshman Kait Steele added 10.
Fellow freshman Randee Harvel continued to excel in her position at libero after makin the switch mid-season as she had a team-high 18 digs. Amanda Trotter added three total blocks as part of a team total of seven blocks.
The four seniors from this 2014 roster end their careers with a 91-48 overall record, a .654 winning percentage, and finished their USA South career with a 29-14 record in the league.
The Lady Lions reached 20 wins for the tenth straight season in their final regular-season contest inside Cave Arena on Saturday, November 1 with a sweep of William Peace. Piedmont ends the 2014 season with a 20-13 overall record and 11-5 in the USA South.
