The Eastern Mennonite University women's volleyball team pushed Averett University to the brink and fell two points short in the fifth and deciding game as the Cougars won 15-13 to take the match 3-2.

The Lady Royals fall to 4-12 on the season with Averett improving to 13-7 overall. Game scores were 30-21, 30-11, 23-30, 29-31, and 15-13.

Games one and two was all Cougars as Shannon Andy had five kills in seven attempts for a .571 attack percentage while Kasey Carpenter added 14 assists. Samantha Kirby then tallied another six kills in seven attempts for Averett in the second game while Carpenter had 10 assists.

The Cougars looked like they were well on their way to winning the match before the Lady Royals fought back in the third game with sophomore Laura Stoltzfus (Parnell, Ia./Iowa Mennonite) helping open up a three-point advantage on her third kill of the game. Freshman Monika Burkholder (Linville, Va./Eastern Mennonite) added a service ace after a Averett timeout to push the lead to four.

The EMU lead grew to seven on a Courtney Miller (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) kill before Averett closed the lead back to four on an EMU attack error.

That was as close as the Cougars got in game three as another kill by Miller and a service ace by senior Megan Good (Quito, Ecuador/Prairie) increased the lead to six as EMU went on to take the game and gain momentum in the match.

"It was an up and down match with games one and two being a struggle for us," said EMU coach Steve Benson. "We switched to a 6-2 after the second game and picked up momentum with the win in game three and that carried over into game four."

In the fourth game the two teams battled all the way to the 29th point when an Averett attack error gave EMU the lead at 30-29. The Lady Royals clinched the game when Burkholder slammed home the winning point on an assist by Miller.

"Courtney had a good game tonight and was really aggressive attacking the ball towards the end of the match."

In game five the two teams exchanged leads before Averett opened up a four-point advantage at 10-6. EMU closed to within two before the Cougars notched the game and match winning point on a kill by Kirby.

Kirby finished the game with 16 kills and two service aces for Averett.

Miller had a team high 20 kills and 16 digs while junior Sara Hoffman (Leesburg, Fla./Leesburg) recorded 32 assists. Stoltzfus and Burkholder each added another nine kills for EMU.

On the teams valiant effort in fighting back Benson added, "We would have liked to have a win going into a conference game tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 28) but a match like this was the next best thing. Everyone played tough and the girls, while upset with the result, were pleased with the way they played towards the end."

The Lady Royals will look to rebound on Saturday, September 28, as they host the Wasps of Emory & Henry at 2 p.m. in Yoder Arena.