Box Score Demorest, GA - The Piedmont College volleyball team won yet another five set decision earlier tonight with a 3-2 victory over visiting NCAA Division II member North Greenville University. The thriller fell the way of the Lady Lions despite PC being tied at 15 in the final set as Piedmont uses the victory to move to a perfect 6-0 in matches decided in five sets during the 2013 campaign.
In the opening set, Piedmont took advantage of 12 North Greenville attacking errors to grab a 25-18 winner and earn a 1-0 set lead as the visiting Crusaders posted exactly a .000 hitting percentage as a team in that set. PC's defense would be tested though in the second set as NGU came alive with 14 kills to take a tight 25-23 win in set #2.
Set three went to PC by a 25-21 score though the highlight in that set came when
Katheryn Knarr, with the Lady Lions leading 7-4, helped Piedmont to its eighth point of the set when
Kaitlin Norman thundered the ball to the floor for the kill. That sequence gave Knarr her 7th set assist of the night and her 2,000th career assist since coming to Piedmont before the 2010 season. Knarr currently sits 2nd all-time in that category behind former Piedmont great Tyler Baldanado.
After earning the 2-1 set lead, Piedmont allowed NGU to pull level with a 25-15 win in set four as the Crusaders rattled off six straight points after taking a 19-15 lead in the set. With the match now tied at two sets each, the two would be forced to head to a deciding fifth set with the match hanging in the balance.
With the score tied at 10 in the fifth set, Piedmont Head Coach
Sid Feldman took a well-placed timeout and must have said just the right things to get his team going as PC went on to win the next four points care of three
Taylor Cramsey kills and an attacking error from North Greenville. That streak put Piedmont within just one point of sealing the match, but the Lady Lions could not yet close the deal as NGU went on a four-point streak of its own to tie the game at 14-14.
The two teams then traded a point each before a Lady Lion attack error gave the Crusaders a 16-15 advantage with just one more mistake meaning a possibility of a Piedmont loss at home. Feldman's squad was up to the task though not buckling under the pressure as three veterans would account for a three-point streak for the home team with senior
Kaitlin Norman and junior
Jennifer Opper getting a pair of back-to-back kills before senior
Ashley Fannon's strike off the hands of the Crusaders handed Piedmont an 18-16 set five victory and the 3-2 overall match win.
On a night where Knarr tallied her 2,000th career assist, two more Lady Lions had career nights with hitter
Taylor Cramsey and setter
Xandy Green each setting new career highs in two different categories during tonight's 3-2 win. Cramsey set new highs in total kills and hitting percentage with her 16 and .469 respective marks. Green's new career highs came with her 30 set assists and seven total attacks with the attacks tying a mark set against Maryville earlier this season.
Other leaders at the net along with Cramsey were
Jennifer Opper who had nine kills on 25 attempts to hit .320 while Norman added eight more and Fannon chipped in seven including the final kill of the evening. Defensively,
Katie Faith tallied more than 20 digs for the eighth time in the last nine matches with her 26 against NGU while Norman added 17 and Knarr picked up a dozen. Green was the team's assist leader with her 30 as Knarr tacked on ten more as one of just two Lady Lions in double figures in that category.
With the win, Piedmont moves to 19-2, their best 21-game record ever. PC will return to action when they travel to Danville for an October 13th conference tri-match. There the Lady Lions will face the host Averett University and fellow league member Ferrum College in USA South play.
