DANVILLE, Va. — In its final regular season home match of the year, the Averett University volleyball team swept Salem College, 3-0, on Thursday night in the Grant Center.

It was Senior Night for the Cougars, as Emily Stanley, Kaleigh Steelman, Jordan Pitzer and Keenan Marks were honored on the court for the final regular season home match of their collegiate careers.

Salem (9-11, 7-5 USA South) played it close early on, before Averett (12-10, 8-4 USA South) went on a late charge to secure the first set, 25-20, and dominated the second and third sets, 25-15 and 25-13, respectively.

The first set was close the whole way, as Salem led 19-17 toward the end of the set before head coach Danny Miller called a timeout to regroup. It proved to be a good call, as the Cougars closed out the set on an 8-1 run to win the first set, 25-20, and take a 1-0 lead.

Averett built off that momentum, jumping out to a dominant 15-8 lead to start the second set. Salem battled back to make it more competitive, but the Cougars prevailed to win the set, 25-15, and jump out to a 2-0 lead. After being tied at 7-7 to start the third set, Averett ran away with it the rest of the way, 25-13, to close out the win.

Marks led the way with 10 kills, 13 assists, five digs and three service aces. Sophomore McKenzie Miller led the team in assists with 20 and added six kills and six digs. It was a balanced scoring effort from there on out, as sophomores Brooke Aaron and Myka Patterson tallied eight and seven kills, respectively, while Emily Stanley led the team with 16 digs and added three service aces. As a team, Averett hit .226 from the field and assisted on 37 of 41 kills on the night.

The Cougars close out conference play with four-straight road games, beginning with a tri-match against William Peace University and Pfeiffer University at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively.