Need to Know
Score Match 1: Piedmont 1, William Peace 3
Score Match 2: Piedmont 0, Averett 3
Records:  PC 10-9 (3-5), William Peace 16-5 (7-2), Averett 16-6 (8-0)
Location: Danville, Virginia - E. Stuart James Grant Center

Danville, VA - In a pair of conference matches with foes from the East Division, the Piedmont College volleyball team dropped decisions to William Peace University (3-1) and Averett University (3-0) on Sunday.

The two contests wrapped up USA South quad-match action for the Lady Lions who complete the last of 14 straight matches on the road, a streak which stretches a little under a month of the season. 

For its first match of the day, Piedmont took on William Peace who entered the day 6-2 in conference play and 15-5 overall.  The Pacers took the first 25-15 before Piedmont claimed the second set 25-19 to tie it up at one set each.  

The Lady Lions held a slim 20-19 edge in the third before WPU rallied with six straight to take the set and a 2-1 advantage in the match.  In the fourth, Piedmont pushed the Pacers to the brink twice late tying it up at 22 and 24 before WPU took the final two points of the match for a 26-24 win in the fourth.

Against Averett, the Lady Lions started out hot holding a 5-2 lead in the first with the visitors staying in front through most of the opener as Piedmont pulled up to a 17-12 advantage later in the set.  However, the Cougars would claw their way back in winning five of the next six points to close within one until KATELYN DURMIRE's kill made it 19-17 PC.  

Averett then went on to claim the next six points in the set taking a 23-19 lead which Piedmont could not recover from falling 25-20 in the first set.  

In the second set, Piedmont again led early but saw Averett win four straight points midway through the set on the way to a 25-16 win which set the table for a 3-0 sweep in the third as the Cougars claimed another 25-16 winner to seal their 9th straight victory, their fourth by a 3-0 score.

Turning Point
--With the score tied at 24 in the fourth against William Peace, the Pacers picked up back-to-back kills for the 26-24 decision that staved off Piedmont from going to five to get the win.
--A run by Averett midway through the first that erased a five-point lead for Piedmont with the Cougars taking the opener 25-20 on the way to the sweep.

Standout Performances
--KAITLYN LOESEL had another strong performance as she led with 11 kills against the Pacers of William Peace while also also tallying three of Piedmont's 12 aces in the match.
--HALEY HIXON was impressive defensively in both matches with 23 digs in the first before adding 13 in the second match of the day.
--AMANDA TROTTER and KATELYN DURMIRE each posted eight kills in the Averett match with Trotter's .350 hitting percetange leading the pair of hitters in the contest.

Inside the Box Score
--Piedmont's second set vs. William Peace was their best hitting performance of the match with a .278 percentage as a team collecting 14 kills on 36 attempts with just four errors.
--The Lady Lions had 12 aces against William Peace, their third highest total in a single match within conference play.
--Averett was impressive on the attack posting a .413 hitting percentage against the Lady Lions, the Cougars' second-best single match hitting performance of the season.

News & Notes
--Three of Piedmont's four matches this weekend came against the top four in the East Division standings within the USA South as PC has nothing but West Division foes left on its conference slate.

Up Next
The Lady Lions return home for the first time in over a month as Piedmont hosts LaGrange College and Fisk University on Saturday, October 8 for a tri-match.  The contest with LaGrange will be a conference match-up while Fisk will be a step out of league play.  Action starts at 12:00 pm with Piedmont taking on LaGrange while the Lady Lions play Fisk at 4:00 pm.  

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