DANVILLE, Va. — Averett University volleyball opened its 2017 season in strong form, knocking off Randolph College 3-0 and Southern Virginia University 3-0 Friday evening during the opening day of the 23rd annual Cougar Classic at the Grant Center.
Averett (2-0) eased past Randolph (0-2) to begin its season, winning 25-13, 25-18, 25-14. The Cougars used a balanced rotation to jump on the WildCats early. Senior
Hannah Shields and sophomore
Brianna Williams led the attack with 15 kills and 11 kills respectively. Shields had a double-double that included 12 digs. Junior libero
Emily Stanley had a team-high 14 digs, while junior setter
Keenan Marks had 17 assists.
Averett also got solid play from a pair of freshmen in
Brooke Aaron and
McKenzie Miller in the win over Randolph. Aaron had six kills, while Miller totaled 14 assists, six service aces and five digs.
The Cougars finished off the first day with a sweep of Southern Virginia. Averett won 25-22, 25-16, 25-19. Southern Virginia looked poised to take the first set from the Cougars. However, Averett rallied from a 22-18 deficit to tie the game 22-22. After a Southern Virginia timeout, the Cougars won the final three points to steal the victory and go ahead 1-0. Averett found its footing from there, and the Cougars put away the Knights in the final two sets.
Shields had 14 kills and nine digs, senior
Sarah Smoot had eight kills and sophomore Maddison Dadez totaled seven kills and seven total blocks. Stanley had a team-high 13 digs and Marks finished with 23 assists and seven digs.
Averett returns to action Saturday against Roanoke College at 11 a.m. and Guilford College at 3 p.m. to finish the Cougar Classic.
