RALEIGH, N.C. -- A tough day for the Covenant volleyball team turned a little brighter later in the afternoon. The Lady Scots fell twice on Saturday in a USA South quad-match losing 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-21) to host Meredith before being defeated 3-2 (25-20, 19-25, 25-18, 19-25, 16-14) by Methodist.
Even with the losses, Covenant clinched the top overall seed in next weekend's USA South Tournament. By doing so, Covenant will host the entire tournament on Lookout Mountain inside Barnes PE Center. Details on game times and other information can be found by here.
The regular season title is the second in program history and the first official one since joining NCAA Division III.
Covenant clinched the South division title with a 13-3 USA South record to go along with a 16-12 overall mark.
MATCH ONE: Meredith 3, Covenant 0
Ginny Moore had 11 kills, but Covenant could not overcome Meredith as the host Avenging Angels took the match in three sets.
The loss snapped a 13-match USA South winning streak for Covenant which had not lost in conference play since Sept. 17.
Meredith (21-8, 15-3 USA South) tallied a .351 hitting percentage led by Emily Hendricks' 14 kills and .444 percentage. Covenant limited Karlie Long to a .148 percentage, but Long still tallied 10 kills in the victory.
Schuyler Moore had 21 assists, six digs and three kills for the Lady Scots. Ginny Moore led the way with eight digs, while Hannah Stewart had seven. Chelsea VanDyk, Jessica Seehorn and Morgan Opgenorth each had four kills.
Meredith broke a 5-5 tie in the first set with a 9-1 scoring run to go ahead 14-6 and would never trail again in taking a 1-0 match lead. The Avenging Angels seized control of the second set midway through and then finished off the sweep by holding off the Lady Scots in a tight third set.
MATCH TWO: Methodist 3, Covenant 2
Covenant rallied twice to tie the match up and send it into a fifth set, but Methodist scored the three of the final four points in the deciding set to hand the Lady Scots their third straight loss.
The Lady Scots dropped the first set before answering with a 25-19 second set win. Methodist responded by taking the third set before Covenant rallied again with a fourth set win.
In the fifth set, Covenant had to rally once again. The Lady Scots trailed 13-11, but consecutive kills from Ginny Moore and Schuyler Moore knotted the score at 13. An Opgenorth kill tied the set at 14 before Methodist picked up the final two points.
Ginny Moore had 20 kills and 18 digs to lead the Lady Scots. Schuyler Moore recorded 50 assists, 12 digs and five kills and Opgenorth produced 16 kills with a .333 hitting percentage and two total blocks. VanDyk contributed 11 kills and three total blocks in the loss.
Defensively, Jaclyn Stuart had 15 digs with Stewart adding 10 for Covenant.
Four Methodist (20-9, 12-7 USA South) players had double-digit kills led by Cassidy Hayes' 18. Karly Klimas led all players with 26 digs and Maggie Harris totaled 57 assists.
UP NEXT
Covenant will host the USA South Tournament on Nov. 6-7. Covenant will open with Ferrum on Friday at 7 p.m. More details on the tournament will follow soon.
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