MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Averett University volleyball had its season come to an end as the Cougars' USA South Tournament run was halted in the semifinals with a 3-1 loss to top seed Maryville College on Saturday at Patrick Henry Community College.

Maryville (25-8), the defending tournament champion, defeated Averett (22-15) 25-19, 25-15, 24-26, 25-19. Maryville, the No. 1 seed in the South Division, advanced to beat Covenant College, the No. 2 seed in the South, 3-1 for the USA South championship.

Averett, the No. 2 seed out of the North Division, struggled in the first two sets against Maryville, which went 16-0 in the USA South during the regular season. The Scots jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the first set and withstood several Averett rallies that pulled the Cougars within three. Maryville pulled away late to take the first frame 25-19. Much like the first set, Maryville took the early lead in Set 2. Averett spotted the Scots a 6-1 advantage to start. Although the Cougars managed to close the gap to 11-10 on freshman Lynsey Corriher's kill, Maryville extended its lead to 21-12 thanks to a huge run with Morgan Hall serving. Maryville cruised to a 25-15 win to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Averett finally picked up some momentum in the third set, grabbing a 3-0 lead. After Maryville surged ahead 5-3, Averett battled back to take a 7-5 advantage. A tight set the rest of the way, Averett forced a fourth set by taking the final three points. Freshman Jessica Sheek's kill on match point kept the Cougars alive. Sheek then added a service aces and freshman Hannah Shields got the set-clinching kill to give Averett a 26-24 win.

Maryville, however, opened the fourth set in strong fashion by taking a 11-3 advantage, which the Cougars couldn't overcome. Down 24-15, Averett momentarily staved off elimination with a four-point run, but it wasn't enough as the Scots won 25-19 to advance to the championship and end Averett's season for the second year in a row after edging the Cougars 3-2 in last season's USA South championship match.

Despite the tough loss, Averett coach Danny Miller was proud of how much his team grew despite having such a young squad that started Saturday's semifinals with five freshmen, one senior and one junior in the lineup.

"I'm really proud of the way this team competed all year considering the talent we lost last year to graduation," said Miller, noting the five seniors lost from last year's roster. "You never know what's going to happen when your team is so young, considering we finished the season starting five freshmen, I'm really proud of what this team did and what we accomplished. It's not something you can really appreciate in the middle of the season, but looking back on it now that it's over, I really think this team did a great job to get to where we were. I look forward to the future."

Lone senior Nicole Barringer's collegiate career came to an end in Saturday's loss to Maryville. Barringer, a two-time USA South All-Conference First Team selection, finishes her career as one of the top setters in program history with 4,654 assists. Against the Scots, she led Averett with 39 assists along with seven digs and averaged 11.38 assists for the tournament, helping her earn USA South All-Tournament Team honors.

Shields led Averett with a double-double of 18 kills and 10 digs, while Sheek finished with 11 kills. Corriher and freshman Christiana Summa added nine digs each.