DANVILLE, Va. — Averett University volleyball knocked off Meredith College 3-1 to secure the USA South Conference's East Division regular season championship on Saturday and earn hosting rights for next week's conference tournament.

In a battle of the USA South Conference's only unbeaten teams, Averett (24-9, 15-0 USA South) defeated Meredith (22-3, 14-1 USA South) in both teams' regular season finale, which also served as Senior Day for the Cougars. Averett won 25-22, 25-23, 19-25, 25-18.

Averett will host a first round matchup Tuesday between the East Division's No. 4 seed and No. 5 seed at 5 p.m., and the Cougars will play the winner in the quarterfinals immediately after at 7:30 p.m.

With so much on the line Saturday entering the matchup with Meredith, Averett head coach Danny Miller didn't shy away from the potential hype.

"I made sure they knew it was not a 'normal' game," Miller said. "Instead of fearing it, embrace it. This is why we play, and we ended up in a perfect scenario of getting to play for a championship in our last regular season game. What more could you ask for?"

Miller believed jumping on Meredith early was the key.

In the opening set, Averett inched out to a 14-11, forcing Meredith to call a timeout. A service ace moments later helped the Cougars extend their lead to 18-13, but the Avenging Angels closed the gap to only two several times before getting within 22-21. Yet, Averett held on to win to go ahead 1-0 in the match.

"If you look at their conference schedule, they've been very dominant," Miller said of Meredith. "Over the last three weeks, I think they've gone four sets just once. Everything else has been 3-0. I felt like if we could get that first set, we could get them down a little bit because they haven't faced that much this year. They only had two losses on the year coming into today."

The Cougars rode the momentum into the second set, quickly rolling out to a 7-3 advantage, leading to a Meredith timeout. Averett was cruising along with an 18-13 lead before the Avenging Angels caught fire and made things interesting. Despite facing set point multiple times, Meredith got within 24-23 before an attack error on a swing into the net preserved the Cougars' victory to give them a 2-0 match lead.

While Meredith's comeback fell short in Set 2, the Angels came out swinging in the third set. Early on, each team traded points until Meredith crept out to a 15-10 lead. Although the Cougars faught back late, their comeback attempt fell short, forcing a fourth set.

The Avenging Angels led 4-2 in the opening minutes before Averett went on a 10-0 run to seize the lead. From there, the Cougars kept Meredith at a distance before clinching the match and the USA South regular season title on junior Sarah Smoot's kill.

"We became kind of timid," Miller said of the third set loss. "As much as I would have loved to have won it in three, I knew it would be hard for us to get focused for that third set in a row. And I knew Meredith was motivated. But I was really proud of how we came back that fourth set and really jumped out early and held the lead the rest of the way."

Junior Hannah Shields and freshman Brianna Williams each had 13 kills, with Smoot adding nine. Williams also had 13 digs. Sophomore Emiliy Stanley led the Cougars with 19 digs and five service aces, while junior Christiana Summa added 10 digs. Sophomore Keenan Marks had 39 assists and nine digs, with Shields contributing nine digs and senior Brittany Daley added four kills and three block assists.

"We came out focused and played well as a team." Miller said. "I think this was probably one of our best team matches where it wasn't just one or two people standing out. It was everyone making plays."

Prior to the match, Averett honors its two seniors — Daley and Ali Wall — who have now been a part of three regular season championships during their four years as a Cougar.

For Averett, the 2016 USA South East Division crown is the program's 16th conference championship of some kind.