Men’s Golf

At the NCAA Preview on Oct. 2-4 in Nicholasville, Kentucky, Piedmont men’s golfers Josh Hebrink, Fred Roberts IV and Eric Penland demonstrated they can compete with the best in the nation.

The team got off to great start on the first day of the tournament, finishing tied for 4th place, before falling back into 7th place out of 18 teams overall. 

Hebrink, a junior psychology major, tied for second with Sewanee’s Ryan Demit, finishing with nine strokes. Hebrink finished with a score of 70, saving the best for last with an eagle and three more birdies. For his efforts, Hebrink was named “CCS Men’s Golfer of the Week.”

Roberts closed with a 5-over 77, finishing tied for 35th, while Penland led the team with four birdies and tied for 46th place out of 90 golfers.

The team is in the midst of hosting the Piedmont Fall Invitational at The Orchard Golf and Country Club in Clarkesville. The tournament wraps up on Oct. 12. 

—Jessica Sconyers

Women’s Golf

After an impressive performance at the Rhodes Classic in Millington, Tennessee on Oct. 3-4, Piedmont freshman women’s golfer Erin Donovan was named USA South Women’s Golfer and Rookie of the Week.

Donovan, from Southaven, Mississippi, took home the individual title at the Rhodes Classic by three strokes, carding back-to-back rounds of 1-under par in the second and third rounds.

This is the second time this season that Donovan has won both Golfer and Rookie of the Week honors from the USA South, and the third time in three events that she has taken home Rookie of the Week.

Donovan began the week with a 3-over-75 in the first round. She went on a roll in the second round, making three birdies against just two bogeys to jump into to the lead with 18 holes left to play. The final round was all hers as she held the lead for the entire round with another 1-under 71, this time with no bogeys.

Her 54-hole total of 217 beat her own program record by seven strokes as she helped the Lady Lions to a 54-hole team program record by 31 strokes, beating the previous record, which was also set earlier this season.

—Aaron Palmer

Men’s & Women’s Swimming

The Piedmont University men’s and women’s swim team competed at the University of South Saturday afternoon at Tallulah Falls School and earned an overall 181-77 win.

“The team did a great job against the University of South, this being the first meet of the season I was very impressed with their times,” said head coach Teddy Guyer.” They are really coming together as a team, and we are expecting big things the rest of the season.”

The top swimmer on the men’s swim team was junior Ross Coppedge who won all the events he competed in, claiming the top spot in the 50-yard freestyle (22.77) and the 100-yard freestyle (50.89), while also taking first place as part of the 200-yard medley relay and 200-yard freestyle teams.

Joining Coppedge in both medley wins was freshman Luke Borgmann, who also had the top time in the 50-yard butterfly (24.86).

For the women, sophomore Madison Nance posted the top times in 50- and 100-yard breaststrokes, posting times of 33.56 and 1:13.97, respectively. 

The swimmers will get the next two weekends off before their next meet at Brenau University on Oct. 29.

—Jordan Burch

Women’s Soccer

The women’s soccer team has opened conference play on fire, winning their fourth game in a row after defeating Huntingdon College 1-0 on Oct. 8.

With a shot edge of 9-6 over the Hawks, the Lady Lions had a few solid opportunities in the opening frame. They attempted to score, but were unsuccessful heading into halftime with a scoreless tie. Early in the second half, Huntingdon offered a few opportunities, but Piedmont quickly regained control when freshman Sierra Judson dribbled down the right sideline and fired a shot from an unlikely angle that soared into the upper left corner of the net to give the Lady Lions a 1-0 lead. That’s all they would need, as sophomore goalkeeper Haylee Dornan earned eight saves for the shutout.

For their efforts, Judson and Dornan were named CCS players of the week for defensive player and rookie player, respectively.

“It was a great win, and I could not ask for a better group to play with. I love how we have freshman stepping up this year,” said senior forward Kaylee King. “We have two big conference games coming up against LaGrange and Maryville, and two wins will be huge for our team.”

The Lady Lions (6-4-1, 3-1-1 in the CCS) host LaGrange College on Oct. 12 at 6:30 p.m. and Maryville on Oct. 15 for senior day. 

—Connor Rogers

Men’s Soccer

The Piedmont men’s soccer team had a very successful weekend after defeating Huntingdon College 2-0 to earn their first win.

“We have an extremely young team, I believe more than half the team are freshmen and the fact that we have been able to compete with a lot of older teams is a great sign for the next few seasons,” said sophomore forward Jason Aussin. “Three or four of the games we had made one mistake and lost as a consequence but it the team has started to pick it up and work together. We haven’t lost in the past three or four games which is a great sign!”

Aussin kicked things off for the Lions in Saturday’s match scoring the first goal in the second half. Junior midfielder Ricardo Ruiz scored as well, giving the Lions the 2-0 victory. Freshman goalkeeper Bobby Wood had three saves for the shutout. The Lions were able to keep Huntingdon from scoring and secured their first win of the season.

The Lions (1-5-5, 1-1 in the CCS) will host conference rival Lagrange College tonight at 6 p.m.

—Vanessa Manzo

Volleyball

The Lions volleyball team was swept by Berea College and Huntingdon College in a Piedmont-hosted CCS tri-match on Oct. 8.

The team opened the day against Berea College, falling 3-2. The Lady Lions narrowly lost the first set 25-24, then won the second and third sets 25-23, 25-23. But after holding a 15-11 in the fourth set, the team lost momentum and lost 25-23 before losing the final set 15-11.

In their second match of the day, the team lost in four sets to Huntingdon College. After being pounded in the first set 25-16, Piedmont answered with 28-26 win in the second set. However, they lost the next two 25-14 and 28-26.

Through the two matches, freshman Katie Hubbard led the team with 22 kills. Sophomore Jessica Sconyers led the squad with 8 blocks on the day, while junior libero Taylor Herrmann tallied 86 digs.

“Overall I feel like the team has really bonded over the season, and it showed this weekend as we started performing as one cohesive team instead of six individual players,” Hubbard said. “I’m just super excited to be apart of this team and to do my part to help the team as a whole.”

The Lady Lions (3-12, 3-4) will travel to Bob Jones University on Oct. 11 before returning home to face Wesleyan College on Oct. 12.

—Silas Sandles