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Match 1: Covenant 3, Piedmont 0
Match 2: Covenant 3, Piedmont 1
Record: Covenant, 7-4 (5-2 USA South); Piedmont, 4-7 (2-5 USA South)

DEMOREST, Ga.  – The Piedmont volleyball team dropped a pair of home matches to Covenant on Saturday afternoon at Cave Arena.

The Lady Lions began the afternoon with a 3-0 defeat in a conference match before taking a set in the second match but ultimately falling 3-1.

Match 1, Covenant 3, Piedmont 0

Covenant jumped out to leads and pulled away midway through all three sets on its way to open the day with a 3-0 victory.

The Scots rolled to a 25-16 win in the first set before taking the second set by a similar margin (25-17). Needing just one of the final three sets to take the match, Covenant jumped out to a big lead in the third before Piedmont rallied back, but was unable to overcome the deficit.

Sophomore BRIANNA KING led the Lady Lions with six kills while classmate JENNIFER HERRERA led with 11 set assists. Also on the defensive end, libero JESSICA BEIL tallied 11 digs in the loss.

PC hung close in the first set before the Scots used a 5-0 run to build an 18-10 advantage that was too much to overcome.

Piedmont led early in the second but Covenant answered quickly using a 5-0 run to build an 8-4 lead early on. From there, the Scots held an extended lead the rest of the set as PC did not cut its deficit closer than six the rest of the way.

Covenant continued to control play in the third, leading wire-to-wire and holding off a late Piedmont rally to secure the conference win.

The Scots' Kyla Bailey led all players with 13 kills in the match while Rachel Bartlett added 36 assists and seven digs.

Match 2: Covenant 3, Piedmont 1

The Scots raced out to a sizeable lead early in the first set, proving too much for the Lady Lions to battle back from. Covenant won 10 of the first 13 points of the set and bulit a 22-8 lead before Piedmont began a late rally that came up short, dropping the set, 25-15.

However, the Lady Lions roared back with a strong second set in which they controlled play from the early going and held on for the win to even the match at 1-1. PC took advantage of 14 Covenant attack errors and held the Scots to a -.060 hitting percentage to take the set.

The Lady Lions continued their momentum taking a brief and slim lead early in the third set before the Scots began to overtake them midway through the set. Covenant used 14 kills in the set and cut its attack errors down to eight to jump back in front in the match 2-1.

From there, the Scots used their momentum and rolled through the entirety of the fourth set, finishing out the festivities with a 25-12 win.

Sophomore JACLYN SAMPSON led PC with 10 kills, the only Lady Lion to reach double digits. Beil added 22 digs while TAYLOR BROWN led with 15 set assists.

Up next, the Lady Lions will travel to Montgomery, Alabama to battle Huntingdon next Thursday, April at 5 p.m.

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