ODAC TOURNAMENT INFORMATION

DANVILLE, Va. – The Bridgewater Eagles volleyball team fell to Averett University by a 3-1 score in the early match, before triumphing over Ferrum College by a 3-0 tally to split at Saturday's quad tournament hosted by Averett.

In the first match against the Averett Cougars, the Eagles dropped the first two sets by identical 25-20 scores, before fighting back to win the third game, 25-21. Bridgewater was unable to fight back as it fell 25-19 in the fourth set.

To open up the first frame, Bridgewater took an early 6-2 lead with a kill from Megan Lookabaugh and a service ace from Lindsay Kallam. The Cougars responded by tying it up and the two teams battled over the next few points, locking the game up numerous times. Averett was able to take advantage of a few Bridgewater miscues as they went on a 4-0 run and took an 18-13 lead. Bridgewater fought back to cut the lead to 24-20 after back-to-back kills from Lookabaugh, but the Eagles fell by a 25-20 tally.

The two teams traded points early on in the second frame, but three kills in a row from Katie Long allowed the Eagles to cut the Cougar lead to 12-11. A block by Kallam and Megann Grimes locked the game at 15-15, but the Cougars fired back with three kills from Allison Sparks to take a 20-16 lead. The Eagles brought the score to 22-20 after kills from Kallam and Maddy Carter, but they were unable to recover and lost 25-20.

Off of kills from the swings of Long and Grimes, as well as a Mara Hogan service ace, the Eagles built an early 7-3 in the third game. Averett replied with strong offensive efforts to tie the game at 7-7, but a kill by Carly Casto finally forced the side out. The Eagles maintained the lead over the remainder of the game and after kills from five different Eagles, Bridgewater earned the 25-21 win.

In the fourth set, Averett came out strong and took an early 7-1 lead before a Grimes kill cut off the run. The teams traded points until Bridgewater went on an eight point run, sparked by a Long kill, to boost its lead to 17-15. Grimes and Casto tallied kills and Ashley Weik notched a service ace during the stretch. The Cougars fought back to tie the game at 19 and proceeded to go on a six point run to earn the 25-19 win and 3-1 match victory.

Long led the offense for the Eagles with 12 kills, followed closely behind by Grimes with 11 kills and 3 blocks. Grimes hit a stellar .474 for the game. Kallam dished out 40 assists, while Hogan chipped in a match-high 16 digs.

Allison Sparks paced the way for the Cougars with 20 kills, while her sister Sarah Sparks tallied 15 kills for the game. Nicole Barringer dished out a match-high 44 assists and also led the defense with 14 digs.

Bridgewater came off the 3-1 loss to Averett and earned a 3-0 victory against Ferrum by scores of 25-14, 25-18, and 25-11, respectively.

Right out of the gates, Carter sparked a five point run for the Eagles with a kill, followed by a Kallam kill and two Hogan aces along the way to put Bridgewater up 5-0. Strong attacking efforts as well as from the service line allowed the Eagles to go on another five point run and push the lead to 18-8. The Panthers were unable to recover as a kill from Abby Mills put the game away, handing Bridgewater the 25-14 victory.

Ferrum gained a 2-0 lead in the second frame, but Chelsea Owensby served for 12 straight points and the Eagles gained a quick 12-2 lead with Kristen Trice adding three kills during the stretch. The Panthers used a few Bridgewater mishaps to cut the lead to 19-14, but they couldn't hold off the Eagles as Casto pounded a kill to end the second set and give Bridgewater the 25-18 win.

The Eagles opened up the third set with back-to-back kills from Allison Moore and continued to build the lead to 9-2 before a Panther kill forced the side out. Lookabaugh notched a kill to give Bridgewater a 13-6 lead and sparking a 10 point run. Hogan served those 10 points and recorded three service aces. Casto, Kallam and Jette Wade added kills during the run to give the Eagles a 23-6 advantage. Ferrum used late Bridgewater errors to cut the lead to 24-11, but committed an attack error to end the set, giving Bridgewater the 25-11 win and 3-0 match victory.

Casto ran the offense for the Eagles with 10 kills, followed by Trice with eight and Grimes with four blocks. Kallam recorded 31 assists and Hogan chipped in 10 digs for the game.

Ashley Amman led the Panthers with six kills and Emily Danner tallied 16 assists and nine digs.

Bridgewater is back in action on Wednesday, November 6 as it travels to #2 seeded Randolph-Macon for Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) quarterfinals. Bridgewater is seeded as #7 after a head-to-head decision over #8 Shenandoah. Game time on Wednesday is TBA.