DANVILLE, Va. — The Averett University volleyball team concluded the opening weekend of the 2019 season at the 25th annual Cougar Classic with a 3-1 loss to Roanoke College and a nail-biting 3-2 loss against Southern Virginia University on Saturday at the Grant Center.

Match 1

In Averett's (0-3) first match against Roanoke (1-3), the first set was hotly contested throughout. The Maroons took a 22-18 lead, but the Cougars battled back to force extra points and ultimately win the first set, 27-25. However, Roanoke took the final three sets from there, 25-10, 25-21 and 25-11.

Senior Madison Dadez led the team with eight kills and three blocks, while freshman Lauren Montren also added eight kills and 11 digs. Junior McKenzie Miller led the team with 30 assists and added nine digs while sophomore Zamyiah Mangum led the team with 15 digs.

Match 2

Against Southern Virginia (2-2), the Cougars battled back from a 15-9 deficit to again force extra points, but it didn't go their way as the Knight took Set 1, 26-24. Averett dropped Set 2, 25-21, before bouncing back with a dominant 25-16 win in Set 3 to cut the deficit to 2-1. The Cougars kept the momentum going, putting together another strong set to take Set 4, 25-18. The final set came right down to the wire, but ultimately ended in a heartbreaking fashion with Averett losing in extra points, 20-18.

On the match, Miller notched a career-high 43 assists with 21 digs and tying the team lead with five blocks. Montren led the team with a career-high 21 kills while Dadez added seven kills and a team-high five blocks. Mangum notched the team lead with a career-high 26 digs to go along with 12 kills.

The Cougars return to action on Friday, Sept. 6 when it travels to the Randolph-Macon College Tournament to take on Marymount University and Salisbury University.