MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The Covenant volleyball team continued its early season success as they cruised to two more victories in a tri-match held at Huntingdon College on Saturday. Covenant defeated Huntingdon 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-16) and then avenged one of its only losses of the season when they beat Piedmont College 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-17).
Not only did the Lady Scots notch two more victories, but with the wins head coach Heather Taylor achieved her 100th career win at Covenant.
In the first match, Covenant (10-3, 3-0 GSAC) got 15 kills from Chelsea Van Dyk and 32 assists from Stephanie Kirkpatrick. Estes Carlson and Paige Cheney each had 14 digs, with Cheney adding three service aces.
Huntingdon (3-8) tied the score at 10-10 in the first set before Covenant rany away by scoring 15 of the next 21 points. In the second set, the Lady Scots again pulled away midway through to pull out the win and then cruised in the third set to take the match.
Pretoria den Boer added seven kills and Hannah Rogers had six kills in the first win.
In the Piedmont match, Van Dyk again led Covenant with 13 kills and Jessica Chittenden added 10. Chittenden added three block solos and six more block assists. The Lady Scots were defeated by Piedmont in five sets just one week ago, but had no problems on this day.
Tied at 17-17 in the first set, Covenant went on a quick 4-0 scoring spurt capped by two Piedmont errors. The Lady Scots would then hang on for the set win. The second set saw Covenant gain an early lead and after Piedmont made a comeback to take a 7-6 lead, the Lady Scots would not trail. Piedmont took a 6-2 lead, only to see Covenant score eight of the next nine and again the Lady Scots would not trail the rest of the game.
Carlson had 20 digs to lead Covenant with den Boer and Kirkpatrick tallying 12 and 11, respectively. Kirkpatrick added 29 assists. Covenant had 42 kills in the match as a team.
"The girls were motivated to get coach Taylor's 100th win," said assistant coach Joanna Ehman. "We made our gameplan based off how they scored against us last week. Our team did a good job of staying focused on what we practiced."
Covenant will return home on Tuesday, September 25 when they host Agnes Scott College at 7 p.m.
