Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Demorest, GA - The Piedmont College volleyball team had to settle for a split in today's USA South tri-match held in Cave Arena despite pushing North Division leader Meredith College to a five set decision in the opening match of the day.  PC fell in that five-set showdown 3-2 before sweeping Methodist University in a straight set decision 3-0 later in the afternoon.

In the opener, Piedmont faced one its toughest conference foes of the season with Meredith, the USA South Athletic Conference North Division leader, rolling into town for a Saturday battle of some of the league's top teams.  The game lived up to the billing as all but two sets were decided by three points or less.  The first set did not fit that description though as Piedmont rolled over the Avenging Angels 25-15 to grab an early 1-0 lead in the match.

Meredith would push back in the second and third sets taking each by a mirror 25-22 score line to steal the overall match lead two sets to one heading into an important fourth when PC would get the best of play from veteran sources to stay alive.  Senior Danielle Maffett posted five kills in six attempts in that fourth set without making an error with her stat line including a kill with the score tied at 23-23 to give PC a one point advantage.  After Meredith was able to tie the score at 24-24 to keep pace, a Meredith attacking error and a kill by Piedmont's Mallory Leary gave PC the eventual 26-24 decision in the fourth to force a decisive fifth set.

In that fifth, the home team fell behind early and could never quite recover from their start as Meredith would get out to an 11-7 advantage in the final set.  Piedmont's Maffett again produced a kill to give the Lady Lions a chance at 11-8, but Meredith would go on to rattle off four straight points to take the fifth set and overall match victory 3-2.

After the heartbreak in the opener, Piedmont had the tough task to refocus and take on another North Division power in Methodist University who would be the second of two USA South teams to test the Lady Lions today.  However, the test was not enough to serve PC a loss as the girls from Demorest rolled to a straight set decision 27-25, 25-19, and 25-21.  Despite having to go to tie-break in the opening set, Piedmont would get outstanding performances from hitters Jackie Campbell and Jennifer Opper as the two combined to tally eight of the team's 16 kills in that opening set.

Attacking leaders on the day included veteran hitter Kaitlin Norman who posted a team-high 18 kills on 59 total attempts while five other hitters reached double-figure kills on the afternoon as Opper, Campbell, Maffett, Taylor Cramsey, and Ashley Fannon all did so.  Opper led the team with her .432 attack percentage as she continues to be one the most efficient offensive weapons in the arsenal of Piedmont Head Coach Sid Feldman.  Opper is the only Piedmont hitter with a season attack percentage above .300 with her .318 mark including just 29 errors on the season.

Assist leaders on the day were the usual suspects in Katheryn Knarr and Xandy Green as Knarr posted 4.71 assists per set while Green tallied 29 kills in two matches.  Defensively, Katie Faith was the team's leader in the digs column with her 35 combined total while Green added 21 and Knarr chipped in 13.  Defensive specialist Jessica Hollis also tacked on 20 digs to the effort, tallying double digit digs in the Meredith loss, the second such performance in her last three matches.

The loss against Meredith is the first time the Lady Lions have fallen in matches decided in five sets moving their record to 6-1 in five-set contests during the 2013 season - a big turn around from the 2012 record when PC won just a single match decided by five sets.  Their 3-0 win against Methodist however is the 11th time Piedmont has won in three this year.

With the split, Piedmont improves to 22-4 overall while moving to 8-3 in conference play to hold on to their second place standing in the South Division of the USA South Athletic Conference.  The Lady Lions will have no time to rest though as they are already headed to Tennessee for a tri-match hosted by Maryville College tomorrow afternoon.  PC will face the host Scots in a conference battle set for 1:00 pm while also playing Martin Methodist University, a NAIA member institution, in the finale at 3:00 pm.