Box Score vs. Agnes Scott | Box Score vs. Toccoa Falls

Demorest, GA -- The Piedmont College volleyball team is off to its best start in program history going 11-1 through 12 games after a pair of wins just this afternoon in the Cave.  The Lady Lions first took down Great South Athletic Conference member Agnes Scott College 3-1 to open the first tri-match of the year at PC before rallying from one set down to defeat Toccoa Falls College 3-1 later in the afternoon.

In their first match of the day, the Lady Lions would see a familiar face on the other side of the net as the Scotties of Agnes Scott came to town as the third GSAC member that Piedmont has played this season in non-conference action.  Piedmont took the first set 25-16 before seeing the Scotties pick up a set of their own 25-23 to tie the match at one a piece.

With the two deadlocked at one, Piedmont made a clear statement in the third set that the match would not be going five defeating ASC 25-10 before holding on in the fourth set 25-19 for the eventual 3-1 winner.  As a team, PC hit .280 while holding Agnes Scott to .032 including the third set when Piedmont forced a -.407 hitting percentage from the Scotties.

Despite tallying 51 kills as a team, only one Lady Lion reached double digit figures in that category as senior Rachel Powell posted ten, one short of her high mark of the season to that point.  Powell's hitting percentage was the more remarkable note of her day as she paced a .588 mark against the Scotties.

The bulk of set assists were nearly split directly down the middle with sophomore Ashton Nash collecting 21 while classmate Katheryn Knarr posted 20.  A pair of Lady Lions picked up double digit digs with freshman Kaitlin Norman grabbing ten while junior Paige Eslinger led with 16 in the win.

In the afternoon contest, it was a surprising start for the home team who dropped the first set 27-25 to Toccoa Falls College, a team the Lady Lions wiped clean 3-0 in their season opener.  However, it was the day of senior Rachel Powell who led Piedmont out of the hole dug in the first set as she went on to put down 14 kills, a new season high, as the Lady Lions started to rally with a 25-22 set two win.

Now on level footing with the visiting Eagles, Piedmont once again came out with a third set statement winning 25-12 before claiming a 25-21 winner in the fourth for the 3-1 match victory.  The afternoon win helped Piedmont to their 11th win of the season in just 12 games, the best 12 game start by a Piedmont volleyball squad in the history of the program. 

Behind Powell's match high 14 kills was the only other Lady Lion in double figures as junior Hallye Jerkins had 11 on 26 attempts.  Knarr was just one assist shy of 30 on the game which would have marked the sixth time the sophomore had crested the 30 assist mark in her young Lady Lion career.  Nash also tabbed 22 assists to go with four digs defensively while also picking up a kill on the match.

A pair of Lady Lions had eight kills a piece in newcomers Katie Byrd and Jennifer Opper while the team was once again paced defensively by Esligner who picked up 28 digs against the Eagles' attack.  Defensive specialist Jessica Hollis added seven digs to the effort as did Knarr with the team having to come from behind for the historic win.

Now 11-1 overall, Piedmont will play host once more as Emmanuel College comes to campus for a night matchup on Monday, September 19th.  First serve is set to drop at 7:00 in the Cave, where the Lady Lions are 3-0 on the season.