Box Score

Demorest, GA -- The Piedmont College volleyball team could not complete its drive for back-to-back conference titles earlier this afternoon falling to top seeded Maryville College in the Great South Athletic Conference championship tournament.  Playing in their home gym in front of another packed crowd, the Lady Lions made a push in the opening set but saw the Scots take control down the stretch to take the crown away from PC.

In the opening set, Piedmont kept it close early until the Scots clawed away from a 19-17 lead with four straight points to go up 23-17 over the hosting squad from Demorest.  Though the Lady Lions would get their 18th point of the set to break that Maryville streak, the Scots got the final two points they needed care of back-to-back kills from GSAC Player of the Year Kristen Findley to claim the first set 25-18. 

After falling behind 1-0 in the overall match, Piedmont fell behind early in the second set as well with Maryville pulling up a 10-3 lead after several Lady Lion attacking errors helped the Scots extend their advantage.  The home team wouldn't be able to do much against the foe from Tennessee as Piedmont tallied eight more attacking errors from that point forward to fall 25-12 in the second set.

Now down 2-0, the Lady Lions tried to extend the match to a fourth set but failed to do so as Maryville claimed another 25-12 set win in the third and decisive set for the overall 3-0 match victory.  For the Scots, the title is their ninth GSAC championship as the Lady Lions finish as the conference runner-up for the third time in the last four seasons.

Leading the way for Piedmont at the net was senior Rachel Powell who tallied half a dozen kills in 11 attempts to swing .364 making just a pair of attacking errors in her final game in Cave Arena.  Junior Hallye Jerkins had five kills as well to add to the mix while freshman Kaitlin Norman earned four kills of her own. 

In assists, Katheryn Knarr led the team with ten while sophomore Ashley Fannon threw in three as well.  Defensively, Paige Eslinger had ten digs while Norman collected six on the afternoon.

The Lady Lions finish the 2011 season with a 22-14 overall record, their seventh straight season with at least 20 wins.  A pair of Lady Lions made both the All-Conference and All-Freshman team in the process while Piedmont also carried the GSAC Freshman of the Year and Libero of the Year honors with Jennifer Opper and Paige Eslinger taking those awards respectively.