Demorest, GA – For the tenth consecutive season, the Lady Lion Volleyball team has earned 20 wins as Piedmont moved to 20-12 overall with two victories against N.C. Wesleyan, 3-1, and William Peace, 3-0. With those victories in conference play, the Lady Lions finished the regular season 11-5 in the league and an impressive 9-2 inside Cave Arena.
In the first match of the day Saturday against the Battling Bishops, the Lady Lions came out dominate in the first set, rolling to a 25-15 victory and never trailed. The second started closer with the teams tied at 4, but then turned to a series of runs as Piedmont reeled off six straight only to see N.C. Wesleyan do just the same. The Lady Lions outscored the Battling Bishops 14-4 down the stretch to take the 25-17 decision in the second set.
These two teams battled back and forth in the third as it was close throughout, but Piedmont led 23-21 late in the set and looked to be rolling to a straight sets victory. N.C. Wesleyan had something to say about that, however, as they reeled off four straight points including three kills to steal away the third set and force a fourth. In the final set, Piedmont left no doubt winning 25-13 after leading by as many as 15.
The Lady Lions had 56 kills in the match with three players in double figures as Taylor Cramsey led the team with 16 and both Mallory Leary and Kaitlin Norman added 11 kills. Norman had a double-double as she also contributed 13 digs, tied for the second most on the team.
Randee Harvel led the way with 24 digs as the libero but both Norman and Xandy Green added 13. Green also had a team-leading 22 assists while freshman Kait Steele added 21. Piedmont hit over .200 in each set, with a match-high .289 in the final set.
Against William Peace, Piedmont took care of business in straight sets with their largest victory in the first set 25-14. In the second, these teams went point for point early on, before Piedmont jumped out in front. The teams knotted back up at 17 but errors down the stretch cost the Pacers as Piedmont took the set 25-20.
In the final set of 2014 inside Cave Arena, the Lady Lions led by as many as 11 before eventually taking the set 25-16. Piedmont held William Peace to a negative attack percentage in the third set and only 5 kills in the set as part of 21 kills in the match.
Cramsey once again led the team in kills with 7 while Leary and Norman both had 6 kills as Norman had a .400 attack percentage in the match. Steele led the team with 19 assists and Green contributed 8 of her own. Heather LaPrade had a team high 7 digs of the 33 for the Lady Lions.
The Lady Lions will enter the USA South tournament as the #3 seed from the South Division and will face #2 seed Averett from the North Division Friday, November 7 at 3:00 p.m. in Martinsville, Virginia.
