Demorest, GA – The Piedmont College Lady Lion Volleyball team played with pride Tuesday night inside Cave Arena losing a close, hard-fought contest to Maryville 3-1. Piedmont staved off elimination by winning the third set and came dangerously close to forcing the Scots into a deciding fifth set, coming up just three points shy of making that happen.
In the first set, the Scots came out dominate leading 15-4 early on and eventually taking the 25-16 decision. The second set was a different story as Piedmont matched Maryville point for point with the teams knotted up at 8-8 before the Scots pulled away 25-18. The Lady Lions weren’t finished though as they fought back to take the third set 25-20, winning their first set over the Scots this season and marking only the fifth set that Maryville has dropped in USA South play in 2014.
The Lady Lions were down 4-0 in that third set before four straight Maryville errors tied it up at 4 all. Piedmont took the lead at 6-5 and never trailed in the set again, leading by as many as seven. After beginning the fourth set trailing 15-4 and eventually being down 19-7, Head Coach Sid Feldman called a timeout and out of the break, there seemed to be a new level of intensity among the Lady Lions.
Down by 12 and only six points away from a loss, Piedmont reeled off seven straight points to rally back into the set at 19-14. The Scots reached match point at 24-18 but Piedmont fought back thanks to three errors by Maryville and a kill by Mallory Leary to be down only 24-22, but Kelsey Handel, the 6’1″ senior for the Scots, who proved to be a towering threat at the net all night recording 17 kills, had the final attack and kill of the game to give her squad the tough 25-22 win in the fourth set.
The Lady Lions as a team only amassed 34 kills but it was Taylor Cramsey leading the way with 9 of them while Kaitlin Norman added 6. As a unit, Piedmont did tally seven total team blocks, with Leary collecting a solo block and adding 3 block assists. Kait Steele had 14 assists while Xandy Green was also in double figures with 11, marking the ninth straight match the two have both gone into double figures.
Randee Harvel added to her impressive move to libero as she had 20 digs giving her three matches this season she has hit or surpassed the 20 dig mark. The Lady Lions did give up its third highest number of kills to its opponent this season as Maryville had 66 as a team with three players hitting double-digit kills.
Piedmont has two USA South matches remaining in the regular season playing host to N.C. Wesleyan and William Peace inside Cave Arena on Saturday, November 1. As of Tuesday, N.C. Wesleyan posts a 6-19 record with five of their victories coming in conference play, while the Pacers are 12-19 overall and 9-7 in the USA South.
Maryville has clinched the one seed in the South Division, while Covenant sits in second with a 10-4 record in conference play. Piedmont is one spot behind with a 9-5 record and both remaining conference opponents for the Lady Lions are in the North Division. The top five teams from the North and top three teams from the South will earn a spot in the USA South Conference Tournament in Martinsville, Virginia.
The Lady Lions are now 18-11 overall and will return to the court Wednesday evening as they take on nationally ranked Emory University. The Eagles are 27-3 overall and undefeated at home so far this season. Including the Emory match, the Lady Lions have three more opportunities to reach 20 wins for the tenth straight season. Wednesday’s match is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. with live stats available through Emory.
