DANVILLE, Va. — The road to the 2022 Old Dominion Athletic Conference volleyball championship will go through Averett University. The second-seeded Cougars battled back to take down No. 3 seed Washington and Lee University 3-1 in Friday's ODAC Tournament semifinals in the Grant Center.
Averett (20-10) will face No. 4 seed Randolph-Macon College for the ODAC title on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. in the Grant Center.
Getting to the championship didn't come easy for Averett after dropping the first set 25-13 to Washington and Lee (19-11). The Cougars fell behind 6-1 at the start of the second set, leading to an Averett timeout. From there, Averett settled in and got back to what helped get them this far. The Cougars methodically chipped away at the Generals' lead before going ahead 13-12 for its first lead since the opening points of the match. Averett slowly inched out to an 18-14 lead before holding on to win 25-18 to knot the match, 1-1.
Set 3 was a tight, intense battle that gave neither team much breathing room. Tied 17-17, Averett put together a 6-2 run to go ahead 23-19, forcing Washington and Lee to call the first timeout of the frame. It didn't matter as Averett won the next two points to take the set 25-19.
Up 2-1, the Cougars refused to surrender the momentum at the start of the fourth set. Averett raced out to a 10-4 advantage and controlled the set. Although Washington and Lee made a brief run to get within 23-20 late, Averett put the Generals away. Junior
Emma Nash's hard swing to the middle of the court ricocheted off a Washington and Lee player and into the stands for a 25-21 win. Seconds later, the Cougars rushed the court in celebration as they head to their first ODAC title game in their inaugural season in the league.
Nash finished with a double-double of 16 kills and 18 digs to lead four Cougars with double-digit kills. Senior
Morgan Barnes had 12 kills and six block assists, while senior
Jessica Beam and junior
Sarah Marlowe each had 10 kills. Junior
Erin Gray was all over the court, making 24 digs. Meanwhile freshman
Rachel Green had 18 digs and eight kills, freshman
Dayton Moore had 22 assists and 13 digs and sophomore
Kinsley Stevens had 27 assists.
Averett took both matches this season against Washington and Lee after ending the Generals' 33-match conference regular season win streak with a 3-2 win back on Oct. 4.
The Cougars move on to play Randolph-Macon, which swept No. 8 seed Roanoke College 3-0 in the other semifinal matchup. Averett and Randolph-Macon met once during the regular season with the Cougars winning 3-1 on the road Sept. 23.
