DANVILLE, Va. - The Washington and Lee University volleyball team fell to Old Dominion Athletic Conference newcomer Averett University in five sets, 25-23, 16-25, 25-21, 20-25 and 15-11 on Tuesday night.
The Cougars (10-7, 5-2 ODAC) snapped the Generals (8-8, 5-1) winning streak of 33 games in conference play, the Blue and White had not dropped an ODAC contest during the regular season in a span of 1,095 days.
The two squads traded games throughout the night and whichever team that started the set on the right side of the net hit over .200, and coincidentally came out ahead on the scoreboard.
In the opening series, the teams swapped the advantage and tied the score up on nine different occasions through a 14-14 stalemate. From there, AU went on a seven-point run and forced the Blue and White to slowly chip away at the hosts' lead. After the visitors came within two, the Cougars needed to take a timeout at the 23-21 mark. Following the break, a pair of Emma Nash and Rachel Green kills sandwiched a pair of AU attack errors for Averett to take set one, 25-23.
The Generals bounced back offensively after switching benches and improved their hitting percentage from .059 in the opener to a dominating .355 in the second. WLU doubled up on the Cougars 10-5 early and continued to build off that lead. Washington and Lee benefited from ten errors to take the second set 25-16 and tied the match up at one a piece.
Set three brought more back-and-forth opportunities for the two teams but Averett had a more productive offense and hit a contest-high .371 from behind the right side of the net compared to W&L's .162. The third set belonged to the hosts, 25-21 and 2-1 advantage overall.
Tied at 17-17 in the fourth, WLU used a pair of three-point runs for a 23-19 lead. The Cougars called a timeout to collect themselves and came out of the break with an immediate point off a Blue and White attack error. Averett then returned the favor and sent the ball into the hands of Allie Buchholz (Portland, Ore. / Jesuit), she recorded a service ace from the line for a 25-20 victory and pushed the night into five.
After trading the first six points with the Generals, Averett knocked out three quick scores off a Jessica Beam kill, a service ace and WLU attack error in a 5-1 run to switch the benches at the halfway point, 8-4. The Blue and White were able to cut the deficit down from four to one at 12-11 in favor of AU. Long rallies and strong defense allowed the Cougars to earn the final three tallies and the match point.
Tonight's contest marked the seventh time the Generals had to play out five sets for a decision this year.
Sophomore Avery Myeres (New York, N.Y. / Poly Prep Country Day School) led the Blue and White with 15 kills and 17 points. Sydney Heifner (Nashville, Tenn. / Harpeth Hall) added 14 kills and 18 digs.
Ashley Webb (Thousand Oaks, Calif. / Westlake) notched 28 assists and
Caroline Gard (Naperville, Ill. / Benet Academy) recorded 24 digs.
Averett dominated defense at the net with 23 total blocks.
Washington and Lee will return to the court tomorrow, Wednesday October 5, to host Ferrum at 6:30 p.m. for an ODAC matchup
