Women’s Golf
Kicking off their 2023 fall season, the women’s golf team placed third overall in the season’s opening tournament with a team score of 952 at the Transylvania Fall Invitational in Lexington, Kentucky.
“The lead we had during the tournament demonstrates what this team is capable of, everyone fought against different challenges on the course and seeing the freshman rise up for their first collegiate tournament makes me excited for the future tournaments this season,” said sophomore All-American Caitlyn Chilito.
Picking up where she left off last season when she shattered several Piedmont records and earned All-Region honors, sophomore Erin Donovan set the pace after round one with a 72, on top of the leaderboard among 81 golfers. Donovan maintained her lead throughout the tournament, carding a 75 in the second round and a 78 in the third finishing tied for first at 225.
“We had a lot to prove coming to this event,” Donovan said. “We were in a mix of teams that we have never really been close to before.”
Junior Sarah Fox finished second for the Lions and 31st overall paced with a 77 second round for a 248 overall. Senior Savannah Barefoot tied for 34th overall finishing strong with a 76 in the third round for a 249. Placing 3rd out of 14 teams primes the Lady Lions for the 2023-2024 season.
“I feel strong about the team’s capabilities going into this season,” said Chilito. “They’re capable of great things and their finish this weekend helps prove that.”
The Lady Lions will return to the course at the Rhodes Classic in Millington, Tennessee on Sept. 18-19.
—Jailyn Green and Dylan Bodney
Women’s Soccer
The women’s soccer team is coming off a tough weekend against top-ranked opponents across three states.
The Lady Lions played #14 Emory University and #10 Washington University in St. Louis, as well as Birmingham-Southern College and Centre College. After playing Birmingham-Southern to a 0-0 tie on Sept. 1, the team traveled from Birmingham to Atlanta to face Emory, where they lost 7-0. On Monday, Piedmont traveled to Danville, Kentucky, losing 8-0 to Washington and 3-0 to host Centre College.
“We were playing some top-ranked teams, which really helped us come together as a team,” said junior Chloe Spradlin. “We had good performances and good moments in these games. Now it’s about taking those moments and turning them into goals and wins.”
One of those good performances came from junior goalkeeper Haylee Dornan, who shut out Birmingham-Southern with seven saves. Against Emory, sophomore Maggie Leger earned a career-high 12 saves in her first career start at goalie. She also earned the start against Centre College, making five saves.
The Lady Lions will look to bounce back at home on Sept. 7 against Sewannee at 2 p.m.
—Pierce Crane
Men’s Cross-Country
Facing higher-level competition, the men’s cross-country team opened their season with a 5th place finish in the Young Harris XC Opener on Sept. 1 at Young Harris College.
With Piedmont being the only D3 team in the field, senior team captain Walker Capelle, said the competition was tough, “It was fun. (Running against) lots of faster guys kind of humbles yourself a bit, but if I am being honest, it wasn’t that more intense than competing against other D3 schools.”
Senior Gary Halverson had a standout performance, setting the program 6k record with a time of 19:01.8. The record-breaking performance left him with a 13th place finish in a field of 79 runners from NCAA Division I and Division II. The Lions scored 145 points to beat out Young Harris College (148) and landing them a 5th place finish out of 6 teams.
The men’s cross-country team will travel to Milledgeville Sept. 8 for the GMC Brickyard Invitational.
-Erin Donovan
Volleyball
The Piedmont volleyball team opened the season in Danville, Virginia at the Averett Cougar Classic, going 1-3 over the weekend.
On Sep. 1, the Lions fell quick against Averett University, losing the first set 25-23, but then evened out the score winning the second set 25-20. Averett would win the next two sets. It was the same story against Roanoke College, as the Lions lost in four sets: 12-25, 25-22, 22-25, 17-25.The following day the Lions faced off against Randolph College and Hollins University. Piedmont lost to Randolph 3-1, but swept the Hollins in three sets: 25-17, 25-9, 25-13.
“A turning point during the match for us was when we got some momentum with serving and blocking,” said senior Destiny Deetz, who had a team-leading six blocks over the weekend.
Sophomore Katie Hubbard amassed a team-leading 39 kills across the four games. “Our team has really come together and found a common goal that we all really want to win,” she said. “A lot of the pressure created by our team in the past is gone. I now feel constant support and know it’s OK to make mistakes and everyone will still have my back.”
Across the four-game slate, freshman Kaylee Ashcraft tied Hubbard for 39 kills and a team-leading 14 aces, while junior setter Vanessa Manzo had 114 assists. Defensively, senior Taylor Hermann posted 49 digs and junior Jia Weathersby had eight blocks.
“We are a team determined to make a run in the conference tournament this year,” said junior Jessica Sconyers, who had 25 kills and four blocks over the weekend. “We all want to be the last team standing and even though our record isn’t how we hoped it would be, but we are building towards the end of the season.”
The Lady Lions will head to Raleigh, North Carolina on Sept. 8 to face Virginia Wesleyan and Bridgewater.
—Simon Johnstone and Bailee Nolan
Women’s Cross-Country
The women’s cross-country team traveled to Young Harris College on Sept. 1 to open the 2023 season.
The race saw a record-breaking performance from graduate student Jaycie Ponce, who finished in the top 25.
“It felt really good. I knew it would be my only chance at a 4k this season, and I had a goal to break it. I feel proud of myself to complete my goal,” said Ponce, who ran the women’s 4k in 16:40.6 to set the new school record and finished 23rdout of 79 runners.
Sophomore Skyler Seeber followed close behind, finishing with a 17:09.8, taking 34thoverall. The Lions were the only Division III team in the meet, competing against two Division I opponents and three Division II opponents, including host Young Harris College, whom the Lions outraced.
“There is still a lot of hard work to do to reach the goals I have this season, but this race reminded me to push myself and continue to work hard,” said Ponce.
The Lions will travel to Milledgeville, Georgia for the GMC Brickyard Invitational on Friday, Sept. 8 for another exciting race.
—Paige Kluba
Men’s Tennis
The Piedmont Lions men’s tennis team kicked off the fall with an away scrimmage against the Division II school Emmanuel College. The matches don’t count towards the team’s record, yet the start of the season sets the tone for the remainder of the Lion’s competition, up until the last match on court at conference championships.
“Our past results against Emmanuel haven’t been very good, but this year we had a lot of improved results,” said senior captain Jack Traylor. “A couple of our freshman got some great dubs, a couple in doubles and one in singles.”
“Although officially a scrimmage, it was more like a joint practice, as myself and the Emmanuel head coach mixed and matched our players to get as many sets in as possible, both in singles and doubles,” head coach Matt Williams said.
Several players stood out in this match, especially newcomers Charles Parnell and Brent Sherman. The two freshmen earned a combined three wins, two of which were in doubles and one in singles. Freshman Brent Sherman took down an Emmanuel doubles team with his partner, senior Leo Galarza, while also accomplishing an 8-6 win in a singles pro set. Freshman Charles Parnell partnered with senior and team captain, Jack Traylor, came out on top with a 7-5 triumph over their opposing doubles pair.
“The first match victory felt so good and I can’t wait to see how the rest of the season goes,” Charles Parnell said.
Whilst the first-year talents proved their worth to head coach Matt Williams, the old-timers showed they’ve still got it. Seniors Kody Dills and Silas Sandles also walked away with singles wins exhibiting that their legs are still fresh, even if they are no longer freshmen.
“It was great to see our guys take the court against high quality players wearing a different uniform for the first time this season,” Williams said.
Our confidence level going into this year after yesterday is pretty good,” said Traylor. “It’s just given us a lot of good momentum and motivation to keep pushing ourselves to get better and better, and hopefully bring that ’chip when it comes to our season.”
The Lions will continue their offseason matches at the ITA Regionals in Sewanee, Tennessee, Sept. 23-25.
—Abbey Grace Venham & Chloe Spradlin
