DANVILLE, Va. — Averett University women's volleyball picked up its first win of the season by beating Bob Jones University 3-2, but fell short 3-1 to Methodist University to finish off the 30th annual Cougar Classic held Saturday in the E. Stuart James Grant Center.
Averett (1-3) picked up its first win of the season with a thrilling five-set victory over Bob Jones University to begin the day. After a tough 26-24 loss in the opening set, Averett controlled Set 2 from the start. The Cougars rolled to a 25-12 win while hitting a staggering .448 on attack attempts to knot the match, 1-1.
In similar fashion to the first set, the Cougars and Bruins had a tight battle in Set 3. Bob Jones eventually held off the Cougars 25-23 to put Averett on the brink. However, Averett answered with a 25-22 win in Set 4 to force a deciding fifth set, where the Cougars easily picked up a demure 15-7 victory to seal the match.
Sophomore
Sydney Mounce led five Cougars in double-figure kills totals with 16. Senior
Julianna Erickson and sophomore
Allie Wilkerson each had 13 kills, with fifth-year senior
Destiny McIntosh accounting for 11 kills and sophomore
Hope Parrish adding 10 kills. Fifth-year libero
Erin Gray had a season-high 33 digs and graduate student
Emma Nash finished with 25 digs to go with eight kills. Junior
Dayton Moore tallied 34 assists and 12 digs and senior
Kinsley Stevens had 24 assists with 10 digs.
Averett ended its weekend by facing former conference foe Methodist, which had just swept University of Lynchburg 3-0 moments earlier. The Cougars came out on fire against the Monarchs to take the opening set 25-21. Methodist countered with a 25-20 win in Set 2, then got out to a quick lead in Set 3 before taking it 25-16. Averett fought in Set 4 but ultimately fell shot 25-20.
Nash had 15 kills, Mounce had 13 kills and Gray added 35 digs for Averett. From the setter position, Moore had 19 assists and 10 digs and Stevens had 13 assists and 13 digs.
With her 122 digs over the four Cougar Classic matches, Gray became the Cougars' all-time career digs leader. In the final match of the day, she surpassed Hall of Famer Brynn Hughes (2,165 digs from 1997-2000) and now sits at 2,179 digs. Gray already held the career digs record for the current 25-point rally scoring era, but now sits atop the cumulative record featuring all three scoring eras.
Averett travels to Washington and Lee University's two-day tournament on Friday, where the Cougars open with University of Mary Washington at 4:30 p.m.
