Martinsville, Va. - The 2nd-seeded Maryville Scots advanced to the USA South Volleyball Tournament Championship with a 3-1 (25-20, 25-21, 20-25, 25-17) win over the 3rd-seeded North Carolina Wesleyan Battling Bishops. It was the first game in the tournament not decided in three sets.
Maryville (21-11) was not as sharp as it was in Friday's opening round win, but it played very well in spurts. A 12-6 run in the opening set made it 21-14 but the Scots let the Bishops hang around. Following an ace by Shana Ayers that cut its lead to three points, Maryville called for time to regroup. The Scots won three of the next four points and a kill by Jillian Galewski clinched the set.
Back-to-back kills by Galewski and Kristen Sharp gave Maryville a 14-6 lead in the second set but Wesleyan went on a 12-6 run, aided by six attack errors by the Scots. Teri Lind ended the Bishops' run with a kill. She served for two more points and assisted on the final points, both kills by Kara Strickland, to put the Scots up 2-0.
Wesleyan played an inspired set in the third. After falling behind 8-5, the Bishops rallied behind Meredith Smith to take the lead. After a kill by Taylor Johnson, Wesleyan held a 22-17 lead. Maryville fought back to 23-20 after back-to-back kills by Kelsey Handel. The Bishops called timeout and eventually won the third set after two errors by the Scots.
Maryville played its best stretch of the game to open the fourth set, as it ran out to a 13-5 lead, winning six consecutive points off serves by Strickland. Wesleyan pulled within four but was unable to get any closer before losing the set by five.
Strickland led the Scots with 19 kills and 14 digs. Lind chipped in with 43 assists and 23 digs.
Johnson and Smith each had 10 kills for the Bishops. Kristi Lucas had 26 assists and 14 digs while Ayers contributed 21 digs.
The Scots advance to the championship, where they will look to knock off the top-seeded Captains. Christopher Newport handed Maryville its only conference loss of the season back on September 29th.
Wesleyan ends its season with a 21-10 overall record... the program's sixth straight 20-win season. The loss marks the end of the careers of seniors Erin Augspurger, Anna Hart, Ayers, Lucas and Smith.