Kaitlin Norman proved to be key in Piedmont’s two close victories on the road today against Ferrum and Averett. Norman tallied 15 kills against the Cougars in the Lady Lions’ 5 set victory.
Ferrum, VA – The Piedmont College Volleyball team extended its conference winning streak to four matches with two hard fought victories Saturday against Ferrum and Averett with 3-1 and 3-2 wins respectively. The Lady Lions dropped the first set in both matches and were able to stave off elimination in three straight sets after falling behind 2-0 against the Cougars.
In the first match of the day against the host team, the Lady Lions struggled in the first set dropping it 25-21 to the Panthers. After trailing by as many as seven early on, Piedmont evened up the score at 18, but could not keep pace with Ferrum. Following that opening set loss, Piedmont would not allow Ferrum to get into the 20’s taking the second set 25-18 and the final two sets by scores of 25-16 and 25-19.
In the third set, which was the largest win in the match for the Lady Lions, Piedmont hit .360 as a team while holding the Panthers under .125 as a squad in all of the final three sets. Piedmont had a total of 5 blocks as a team while holding Ferrum to only 2 team blocks.
It was Mallory Leary who led the way with 11 kills and added 7 digs while Kaitlin Norman also proved to be a big contributor in both categories with 8 kills and 9 digs. The assists were split between Xandy Green who accounted for 18 and Kait Steele who added 13.
Against Averett, Piedmont dropped the opening set 25-21 and could not keep pace with the Cougars who took the second set 26-24. In the third set, the Lady Lions were able to take control and secure a 25-21 victory of their own and outlasted Averett in the fourth set with a 27-25 victory.
In the deciding fifth set, these teams matched one another nearly point for point with neither team having larger than a two point advantage until the final two points of the match which belonged to Piedmont to give the Lady Lions the 15-12 win. This marked the first five set match of the year for the Lady Lions.
It was Kaitlin Norman leading the charge with 15 kills and a .371 attack percentage while Mallory Leary again had double-digit kills with 10. Kait Steele had 23 assists, tied for her third-highest total this season, while Xandy Green also was in double-figures with 18 assists.
As a team, the Cougars tallied 71 kills, the most the Lady Lions have given up this season, with two players going over 20 kills each and combining for 46 kills, just two shy of Piedmont’s team total of 48 kills.
The Lady Lions move to 14-8 (6-2 USA South) and will be back in conference action Wednesday night inside Cave Arena as they play host to LaGrange College. PC has two victories this season against the Panthers with one coming in conference play. Wednesday’s match will begin at 6:30 p.m. with live stats and video available through PiedmontLions.com.
