The Covenant College volleyball team opened its 2025 season with a challenging opponent, but ultimately fell to Southern Virginia University 3-1, the 2024 USA South Champions, on day one of the Covenant Classic.
Covenant and Southern Virginia remained neck-and-neck as the score was tied at 12 after a kill from the Knights in the first set. A 3-0 Scots run, which included a service ace from Amber Snook gave them some cushion at 18-15. The Scots scored five of the last six points, ending the set with consecutive aces from Carmen Harvey to win 25-16.
In the second set, Covenant looked to be in control as it pushed its lead to as big as 15-11 after an attack error by Southern Virginia. With Covenant up 22-19, Southern Virginia rallied off six straight points to tie up the match at one a piece.
The Knights led from start to finish in the third set, cruising to a 25-17 win. The key moment was a 5-0 run when the score was 17-15.
With the Scots trailing 19-14 in the final set, they got back in the game with five consecutive points to tie the set. The score read 21-21 before the Knights used two kills and two Covenant attack errors to close out the set 25-21 and the match.
Aubrianna Gerdes led Covenant offensively in kills with nine in her first college game. Cali Sandhoff nearly had a double-double with 14 assists and nine digs. She also tallied six kills. Henley Gentry posted 19 digs in her first game in the blue and white. Southern Virginia had a higher point total at 66-49 and a higher kills total at 47-38.
Covenant takes on George Fox and Pfeiffer tomorrow in Barnes P.E. Center.