Box Score
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Third-seeded Averett couldn't finish off No. 2 seed N.C. Wesleyan College on Friday night. The Bishops came from behind to beat Averett 3-2 in the USA South Conference Tournament semifinals by scores of 25-20, 24-26, 16-25, 25-21, 15-10.
Averett (23-15) held a 2-1 advantage after three sets and jumped out to a 10-4 advantage in the fourth set. N.C. Wesleyan (24-14) fought back to tie the set at 17-17 and went ahead on a Leslie Hassell kill. Averett regained the lead momentarily on a kill and a service ace by sophomore
Jesse Jones, but the Bishops won seven of the final nine points to force a fifth set.
The Cougars couldn't hold their ground at the start of the final set as N.C .Wesleyan zoomed out to 9-3 lead. Averett managed to cut the deficit to two before the Bishops finished off the victory to advance to Saturday's championship.
Despite the loss, Averett senior
Marie Keatts set the USA South Conference single-season record for digs. Keatts' 31 digs on Friday helped her break the previous record by two to finish the season with 669. Meredith College's MaryBeth Finnegan's mark of 667 set the old record last season.
Junior
Shannon Andy had a team-high 21 kills, while senior
Jordan Maupin finished with 16 kills and 21 digs in her final collegiate game. Jones tallied 57 assists and 16 digs, while freshmen
Brooke Hensley and
Hannah Wetherald had 19 digs and 11 kills, respectively.
After the Bishops took the opening set, Averett rebounded with a comeback win in the next set. Down 18-14, the Cougars rallied before getting kills from Andy and senior
Brandy Apple to win 26-24. With the match tied, Averett demolished N.C. Wesleyan in the third set and looked to advance to the title game for the second time in as many years. However, it wasn't meant to be.