Box Score Martinsville, VA - The Piedmont College volleyball team came up just a few points shy of pushing Averett University to a five-set decision earlier today dropping a 3-1 decision to the North Division top seeded Cougars in the semifinal round of the 2013 USA South Athletic Conference Championship Tournament.  The loss ends the 2013 season for the Lady Lions who have plenty to hang their hat on as the squad set a new all-time season win record with their 28th victory of the year last night with a 3-1 win over William Peace in the quarters of the conference championship tourney.

PC fell in the first two sets of today's match with the Cougars by replica 25-20 scores as Averett took a two sets to none lead looking to snare a spot in the championship game of the USA South tourney later in the day.  However, Piedmont did not go quietly into the afternoon as the Cougars hoped with the Lady Lions earning a win in set number three of the match to pull the overall match score to 2-1 looking to even things out in the fourth. 

Piedmont trailed in the third set 23-22 before winning the final three points of the set with Taylor Cramsey getting a pair of kills to spark the trio which was capped off by a block from senior middle Danielle Maffett as PC took the set 25-22.  In the fourth, Piedmont stormed out to a 5-1 lead with Kaitlin Norman collecting a pair of kills in that stretch while libero Katie Faith picked up a service ace as well to push the early margin.

The two squads would trade points from that point forward in a tightly contested set that saw Piedmont break a 17-17 tie with Jackie Campbell's kill off an assist from senior Ashley Fannon.  However, from that point on, the Lady Lions would get only one point in the rest of the set with that single point coming on a service error by Averett who won eight of the next nine rallies to eliminate Piedmont from the USA South postseason after the Lady Lions entered the tourney as the #2 seed from the South Division. 

Leading Piedmont at the net was junior Jennifer Opper who had 11 kills as the only Lady Lion in double figures in that column.  The Clearwater native hit .345 to lead her team in that category as well committing just one error in 29 attempts. Jackie Campbell was next on the list with her nine kills followed by a pair of teammates in Kaitlin Norman and Taylor Cramsey who each had eight. 

Defensively at the net, Piedmont was topped by Opper and Norman who each had a trio of block assists including several on the hard hitting weapons of Averett's front row in key moments during the third and fourth set. 

Katie Faith was the only Lady Lion in double digits in digs with her dozen while Norman added nine and eight came from Jessica Hollis and Xandy Green each. Senior Katheryn Knarr had 19 assists to top that list while Green posted 15 helpers as well. 

The loss ends Piedmont's season at 28-9 with the Lady Lions having won five of their last six to end the year as today's defeat snaps a five-game winning streak by PC entering the day.  That five-game streak was the third time Piedmont had collected at least four wins in a row during the 2013 season, a year which included a 13-game winning streak that spanned nearly a month of the season.