ROCKY MOUNT, N.C.— The Averett University volleyball team swept North Carolina Wesleyan College and Pfeiffer University to extend their win streak to 13 games and stay undefeated in conference play. The win against Pfeiffer is the Cougars 20th victory of the season, which marks the ninth straight campaign where Averett has collected at least 20 wins.

The Cougars (20-2, 9-0 USA South) and N.C. Wesleyan played a tightly contested first set with neither team able to extend their advantage to a three-point lead. After a Cougar attack error gave the Battling Bishops a 23-22 lead, sophomore Brianna Williams came right back with a kill to knot things up at 23. A Bishops ball handling error on the next play gave Averett the 24-23 edge which forced N.C. Wesleyan head coach Vicky Gentile to call a timeout. Out of the break in action, freshman McKenzie Miller tallied a service ace to give Averett the win in set one, 25-23.

N.C. Wesleyan opened up the second set with an early 3-2 lead, but the Cougars rattled off three straight points for a lead of their own at 5-3. The Cougars held the edge on the scoreboard throughout the entire set and broke open a six-point lead at 23-17. Two Bishop attacking errors helped the Cougars prevail in set two, 25-20.

Averett came out in attack mode at the beginning of the third set and it paid off as the Cougars racked up six kills early on for the 10-4 lead. From here, the Cougars would not look back as they went on an 11-2 run to reach a 21-6 advantage. Eventually the Cougars would complete the sweep of the Bishops with Williams recording her ninth kill to clinch match point at 25-11.

Junior Emily Stanley led the team in digs with 13, while senior Hannah Shields paced the Cougars with 11 kills. Junior Keenan Marks completed the match with 19 assists and six service aces.

Averett worked quickly in the first two sets against Pfeiffer (1-13) by dispensing the Falcons 25-7 and 25-8 respectively. Unlike the first two sets, set three was close throughout the entire frame with the Cougars unable to extend their lead to beyond four points. Once Averett pushed their lead to 22-18, head coach Chris Kimura called his final timeout of the set. The Falcons responded by going on a 4-1 run to cut the Cougar lead to 23-22 before kills from seniors Lexi Rosenbaum and Jordyn Minton gave Averett the 25-22 win in set three and the 3-0 victory. 

Shields registered 10 kills in the match while senior Hayden Rigsbee recorded six kills. Defensively, Stanley led the team in digs once again with eight.

Averett is back in action Wednesday, Oct. 11, when they travel to Staunton, Virginia to go up against Mary Baldwin University. First serve is set for 7 p.m.