The Covenant volleyball team set a school record for victories in a season on Saturday, but the Lady Scots fell just short of earning a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Covenant fell 3-1 to Maryville in the USA South championship. Set scores were 25-17, 25-15, 22-25, 25-17.
Covenant defeated Meredith in the semifinal round earlier in the day to capture its 27th win of the year, a school record. The previous mark of 26 was set in 1984.
Maryville wins the USA South title for the second year in a row and will once again represent the league in the NCAA Tournament beginning next week.
Maryville took the first two sets to grab a 2-0 match lead. Big runs in each of the sets were key as Maryville gained control of the match.
In the third set, Covenant rallied to take a 25-22 win. Covenant took a 9-3 lead in the set after a Cora Schroeder kill and a Maryville error. The Lady Scots would keep a comfortable lead for much of the set until Maryville rallied to cut the Covenant lead to 23-20 late in the set, but a Maryville error and another kill from Schroeder ended the set.
The fourth set was tied at 10 apiece before Maryville went on a 12-2 scoring run to pull away and earn their second straight title.
Ginny Moore and Schroeder had nine and eight kills, respectively. Schuyler Moore tallied seven kills, 16 assists and nine digs in the loss. Chloe Carlson led the team with 17 digs.
Both Ginny Moore and Schuyler Moore were selected to the All-Tournament team.