LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Ga. – No, Maryville did not snap Covenant's 10-match winning streak Tuesday night in Georgia.
They did stop Covenant's 29-set winning streak and they also threw quite a scare at the first-place team in the CCS standings. But Covenant survived 3-2, winning 25-17, 25-15, 28-30, 24-26 and 15-11.
That crazy 30-28 result was the first set dropped by Covenant in the CCS this season, and the first set lost since Birmingham-Southern won the opening set back on Sept. 12. Maryville then won the fourth set as well and came oh so close to taking Set 5 before falling just a few points shy.
Covenant's only loss of the season was 3-2 at Transylvania back on Sept. 9. Maryville is the only other team to take Covenant to five sets. These two teams meet again Oct. 24 in Cooper Athletic Center.
The first two sets saw level play from both sides early before Covenant pulled away in each set to take a 2-0 lead. Maryville grabbed its first leads of the match in Set 3 but then fell behind 16-11. The visitors still trailed 22-19 when
Hannah Kammer and
Caitlyn O'Shield blasted back-to-back kills to spark a 22-22 tie. Neither team lead by more than a point – the set produced 12 ties and eight lead changes – until
Kenzie Brewster's second kill of the set bounced Maryville back into the match at 30-28.
Set 4 saw the visitors rocket in front 16-8 thanks to a 7-1 run that produced their largest lead of the match. But Covenant worked its way back and finally tied the set at 24-24. That's when O'Shield produced another kill and the home side couldn't convert on match point, handing Maryville a 26-24 lifeline and a ticket to Set 5.
Maryville never led in the fifth and deciding set, and the only ties were at 2-2 and 5-5. But MC rallied from a 10-5 deficit with four straight points, capped by an
Ella Reyes service ace. That was as close as Maryville could get. Kammer contributed another kill to pull within 13-11, but Covenant ground out the final two points and survived with its perfect CCS record intact.
Ally Sokolow missed by one her career high in digs with 29, while
Dakota Vaiese missed by one her season high in assists with 20. Kammer led the visitors with eight kills for her most since the Labor Day tournament.
Ashley Hilbelink did achieve a career high with 14 digs, and O'Shield posted a season-high six kills.
The Maryville Scots are 9-9 overall and 4-2 in the CCS, while Covenant improved to 16-1 and 6-0.
Maryville is at No. 5-ranked Emory (11-0) this Friday in a 5 p.m. match. On Saturday, the Scots are at Agnes Scott for a tri-match against the host Scotties and LaGrange. Maryville's matches are at noon and 2 p.m.
