Wesleyan GA at ARV Covenant up shortly:
Final: Covenant over Wesleyan-GA in 3.
(25-6, 25-11. 25-17.)
Covenant: 17 service aces.
ARV Maryville-TN vs. LaGrange on deck:
Final: ARV Maryville-TN over LaGrange 3 sets to nil.
(25-16, 25-15, 25-15).
Maryville-TN: 31% team hitting pct. for match
Final: ARV Maryville-TN over Sewanee 3 sets to nil:
(25-23, 25-15, 25-16.)
Maryville-TN: Samson and Potts .444 and .429 hitting pcts respectively.
Two of their team-mates had .333 each.
ARV Maryville-TN finished USA South Conference regular season undefeated:
Tournament Seedings:
USA East: USA West:
1. Wm. Peace 1. Maryville-TN
2. Averett 2. Berea
3. Meredith 3. Covenant
4. Greensboro 4. Huntingdon
There'll be separate East and West Division Champions determined.
USA East:
Wm. Peace/Greensboro: Wm. Peace swept the regular season match-up. Wouldn'tcha know this is the third consecutive match they'll play against each other. Wm Peace top in-conference match team hitting pct. (.256) Laskoski 3rd overall in conference with 174 total spikes for points, also 3rd in avg spike pts/set (3.55) Greensboro -- S Oakes in-conference .275 hitting pct. X-factors Uhlir and Stout (if all 3 Greensboro players have strong games at once)
Averett/Meredith: These teams went 1-1 against each other in the regular season. Have just about the same team hitting pcts. Averett in in-conference matches led the USA South in avg spike pts/set (13.20) Meredith - Phillips 3rd in digs with 250 and 1st in avg. digs/set (5.10) Averett -- Gray 1st in digs (276).
USA West:
Maryville-TN/Huntingdon: Maryville TN swept regular season matches in 4 and 5 games respectively. Both have similar team hitting pcts. Maryville's Smithson and Huntingdon's Tyma finished in the Top 3 in conference in hitting pct. .512 and 418 respectively. Tyma also had 14 service aces. Maryville led the conference with 82 team service aces.
Berea/Covenant: Berea won the lone regular season match-up in 4 sets. Covenant had 2 players with hitting pct. 367 or higher in-conference. Berea--Robles and Cora 16 and 14 in-conference service aces, respectively. Berea--De LaTorre 204 total spikes for points, also lead conference in avg spike points/set (4.53).
Final #1: Maryville-TN over Huntingdon in 4 sets:
(30-28, 22-25, 31-29, 25-19.)
Maryville-TN: .243 team hitting pct. for match
Matthews and Wallet .400 and .375 hitting pcts. respectively
Huntingdon: Tyma .306 hitting pct. 26 digs.
Final #2: Wm Peace over Greensboro in 4 sets.
(25-21, 25-14, 22-25, 25-11).
Wm Peace: .259 team hitting pct. for match
Cooper .450 hitting pct.
Greensboro: Oakes .250 hitting pct.
Final #3: Averett over Meredith in 4 sets:
(26-24, 21-25, 25-23, 25-20.)
Averett: Miller .462 hitting pct. 49 assists
Meredith: Bolton .438 hitting pct.
Final #4 Covenant over Berea in 5 sets
Division Finals:
East: Wm Peace vs. Averett (Wm Peace went 2-1 against Averett in the regular season).
West: Maryville-TN vs. Covenant. (Covenant got swept in the earlier match-up, but took the TN Scots to 5 sets once.)
USA West Champs: ARV Maryville-TN, which beat Covenant in 3 sets.
(25-21. 25-17, 25-22)
Maryville-TN: Came back from an 8-1 deficit to take Set 2
Samson .263 hitting pct.
USA East Champs: Averett, who held off Wm. Peace in 5 sets>
(25-22, 25-23, 19-25, 18-25, 15-4)
Averett: 10 service aces Averett out-hit Wm. Peace .400 to -.211 in Set 5 to take the East Title.
USA South Athletic Conference Fall 2021 Pre-Season WVB Poll is here:
https://www.usasouth.net/sports/wvball/2021-22/releases/20210823gvxi6i
S. Virginia vs. Greensboro on deck:
USA South Finals:
Southern Virginia over Greensboro in 3
(25-21, 25-22, 25-20)
S VA: 3 players with .357 or higher hitting pct.
Brevard over Piedmont in 4
(18-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-20)
Brevard: Hoxit .400 hitting pct.
Averett/So. VA just underway:
1st Final: S VA over Averett in 4 sets:
(25-14, 25-27, 25-15, 25-20)
S VA: 13 service aces
Averett: Gray 18 digs
2nd Final: Meredith over Salem in 3 sets:
(25-15, 25-15, 25-19)
Avenging Angels: 3 players with .316 or higher hitting pcts.
Salem: Rosa Lopez 10 digs
3rd Final: NC Wesleyan over Methodist in 4 sets:
(27-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-20)
NC Wes: 10 service aces, Martin 45 assists, 10 digs .545 hitting pct.
Methodist: Craig .381 hitting pct.
With those results, Meredith keeps pace with S VA, NC Wes gets to .500 in-conference and Averett slips a bit.
USA South Final:
Meredith over William Peace in 4 sets:
(22-25, 26-24, 25-20, 25-18)
Avenging Angels: Dees .435 hitting pct. Clark .381 hitting pct.
Wm. Peace: Russell 49 assists GG Anderson 368 hitting pct.
With that result, the Avenging Angels take over 1st place in the USA South East Division and clinch a spot in the conference tournament. (Averett's in 4th place with 5 losses), Even if Meredith lost it's last 2 in-conference matches, that squad would have no more than 4 losses at worst at this point.
USA South Athletic Conference Notable Pre-Conference Tournament Stats:
Teams: Berea leads the nation in Team Total Attacks (4,484) and in Team Digs (2,302) and is 14th in the nation in Digs/Set (19.51). Averett and Pfeiffer are 4th and 7th in the nation in Team Assists (1,327 and 1,304 respectively); Greensboro and Averett are 15th and 17th in the nation in Team Digs (1,929 and 1,915, respectively): S VA and Meredith tied for 1st in conference in Hitting Pct. (,230 each); Covenant and Berea tied on Opponent's Hitting Pct. (.106 each);
Players; Wm Peace's Landis Limon is 7th in the nation in Blocks/Set (1.19); Berea's Fabiana DeJesus is 3rd in the nation in Total Digs (623) and also averages 5.37 Digs/Set; Meredith's Lauren Bissette is 4th in the nation in Hitting Pct. (.432); Southern VA's Emma Steiger is 4th in the nation in Service Aces (75) and teammate Ellie Warnick is 8th in the nation in Total Assists (1,039).
(If you really like good defense, the team numbers indicate that this is THE conference tournament to take in.)
Early Finals: Averett over Pfeiffer
Huntingdon over Brevard
(Both results in 3 sets)
Huntingdon gets Maryville-TN
Averett gets Southern VA
Meredith/Wm Peace and Berea/Covenant yet to be decided.
UPDATE: Meredith over Wm Peace in 3 sets.
Covenant over Berea in 4 sets.
USA South Update:
Meredith has just upset Top seed Maryville-TN in 5 sets!
(22-25. 25-27, 25-18, 25-23, 15-10)
Avenging Angels outhit Maryville .200 to 000 in Set 5 to pull this stunner off.
Southern VA over Covenant in 4 sets.
Southern VA and Meredith go at it for the USA South AQ.
'22 Conference Tournament Underdog to Watch: Salem
Salem was picked in pre-season to finish 9th but ended up 4th. Not only that, but the Spirit squad garnered 12 in-conference wins in the regular season and had the largest win turnaround in USA South history (+19).
#4 Salem hosts #5 Meredith later today.
Also:
#1 Southern VA/#8 Pfeiffer
#2 Wiliam Peace/#7 NC Wesleyan
#3 Greensboro/#6 Methodist
Salem's run ends, as the Spirits matched up against a Southern VA squad that would not be denied (S VA won in 3 sets.).