In a battle of new regionally-ranked foes, the Covenant volleyball team used a balanced attack and limited a potent Berry offense as the Lady Scots took a 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-17) victory over the visiting Vikings on Wednesday night at Barnes PE Center.
Covenant (16-7) moved into the NCAA regional rankings for the first time in program history at No. 8 earlier in the day. The Lady Scots have won eight straight matches, and 13 of the last 14 overall. Berry (20-4), the No. 1 ranked team in the region, saw its 15-match win streak come to a screeching halt with the loss.
Before the match, Covenant honored head coach Joanna Ehman for her 100th career coaching victory which came with a 3-1 win over Piedmont on Oct.
14.
Covenant had a 39-33 edge in total kills, while limiting the Vikings to just a .078 hitting percentage. Berry came into the match ranked first in the Division III in blocks per set, but only managed five team blocks on the night.
The first set saw a little bit of everything. Covenant tallied 14 kills in the frame, while Berry had 13, and there were six ties and three lead changes. The Lady Scots trailed 17-13, but caught up at 21-21 after a kill from Ginny Moore. Berry regained the lead, momentarily, at 22-21, but consecutive kills from Chloe Storm and Hannah Harris gave Covenant a 23-22 lead. A Berry error was followed by a Vikings kill to make it 24-23 and another kill from Harris gave Covenant the 25-23 set win.
Covenant also had to make a comeback in the second set. The Lady Scots trailed 9-5 before chipping away at the margin and tying the score at 15 apiece with a kill from Harris. A quick 4-0 spurt a few points later gave Covenant a 20-17 lead, but Berry answered with a mini-run of its own to knot the score at 21-21. Back-to-back Berry errors, one on a serve and the other on an attack, gave Covenant a two-point lead at 23-21 but again Berry responded with two straight points to tie the score. But the Vikings, who accumulated six service errors, put a serve into the net and then it was Harris again with a big kill to give Covenant to game and a 2-0 match lead.
In the third set, Covenant led for the majority of the time. Consecutive kills from Ginny Moore gave the Lady Scots a 4-2 lead early on, a lead they would not relinquish. The lead for Covenant grew to nine points at 18-9 after a 6-0 run that was capped by an Allie Jakes block. Berry would get within five points on two instances, but each time Covenant had an answer to seize momentum again. Back-to-back errors from the Vikings ended the set, giving Covenant the win.
Harris led the Lady Scots with 11 kills, while Ginny Moore and Jessica Seehorn had eight each. Schuyler Moore tallied 32 assists, five kills and 10 digs in the win. Emily Moore had 18 digs with Seehorn collecting 13, and Ginny Moore 12. Storm added two total blocks to go with three kills.
Berry was led by Carson VanCampen's 11 kills. Hannah Kate Thompson recorded 23 assists and Elizabeth Ragland had 23 digs.
Covenant will get back into USA South play on Saturday with two matches in Decatur, Ga. The Lady Scots face Huntingdon at 2 p.m., followed by a tilt with host Agnes Scott at 4 p.m.