BRIDGEWATER, Va. — Averett University women's volleyball is headed to the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals after the No. 6 seed Cougars knocked off No. 3 seed Bridgewater College 3-1 on Tuesday night.
Averett (14-16) advanced to Thursday's semifinals, where the Cougars will travel to play No. 2 seed Randolph-Macon College at 7 p.m.
Bridgewater (23-6), which had won 14 in a row and hadn't lost since Sept. 23, turned a 15-15 tie in the first set into a 25-17 win to go up 1-0 in the match. The Eagles rattled off seven consecutive points to take a 22-15 advantage in Set 1 before finishing it off.
Despite a shaky finish in the opening set, Averett wasn't deterred. Even after Bridgewater jumped out to an 11-6 lead in Set 2, the Cougars fought back by methodically narrowing their deficit. Trailing 24-22 with Bridgewater at set point, Averett got back-to-back kills from sophomore
Rachel Green and freshman
Hope Parrish to tie it, 24-24. After trading points, kills by freshman
Allie Wilkerson and senior
Emma Nash helped Averett prevail 27-25 to even the match at 1-1.
"Our mentality coming into the tournament was 'play hard,'" Averett head coach
Olivia Earls said. "Everything we did, we did hard. I think that was what we stuck to. We knew if we played aggressive, we would find our groove."
The momentum slowly shifted in Averett's favor in Set 3 as the Cougars built a 16-6 lead with a combination of strong attacks and taking advantage of Bridgewater errors. Averett pulled away for a 25-15 win in the frame to go up 2-1 and put the Eagles' backs against the wall in Nininger Hall.
In Set 4, Averett seized an early 6-3 advantage and maintained a small cushion that grew to as many as five points when the Cougars led 13-8. Averett continued to fend Bridgewater off, but the Eagles made one last push to try to force a deciding fifth set as they battled back to tie it, 22-22. Averett survived, however, with the help of three consecutive attack errors by Bridgewater to seal the four-set win for the Cougars and keep their season alive.
Three Cougars finished with double-digit kills as senior
Destiny McIntosh had a team-high 12 kills, while Nash and freshman
Sydney Mounce each had 11. Senior
Erin Gray continued to shine defensively, making 21 digs. Sophomore
Dayton Moore had a team-best 20 assists and junior
Kinsley Stevens had a double-double of 15 assists and 11 digs for Averett at the setter position. Green added seven kills as Averett hit .244 as a team and had 10 total blocks.
Reagan Stoop led Bridgewater with 24 kills and 16 digs.
Averett avenged a 3-1 loss at Bridgewater during the regular season with its quarterfinal win.
The Cougars also benefited from a strong fan base in attendance for Tuesday night's match. As Averett gained momentum on the court, the blue and gold section of the crowd was there to provide extra energy.
"Our Averett parents are our biggest support system," Earls said. "Having them there and cheering hard with us after big plays continued to move our momentum forward. They brought the Grant Center atmosphere to us, which was a major factor for our team."
