Women’s Soccer
The Lady Lions opened conference play with a roar, dominating Wesleyan College 10-0 in Macon.
“It’s a good start to our conference play. I think is a real tone-setter for how we want to finish our season,” said sophomore Zoe Harrison. “I think if we keep playing how we are and do the little things right we will be able to make a run in the regular season and into the tournament.”
Piedmont had eight different scorers in the game, led by junior Sierra Judson and sophomore Molly Fitzpatrick, who had two goals each. Other Lady Lions to find the back of the net were freshmen Madison Johnson and Sydney Spitzer and Alison Wit The first scorer was freshman Kylin Rothwell who scored at 4:49 with junior Savannah Jerome assisting. Freshman Madison Johnson scored the second goal at 8:12 and with another assist from Jerome. Junior Sierra Judson had the next two goals at 11:15 (Jerome assist) and at 14:52 assisted by junior Peyton Gates. Freshman Sydney Spitzer scored the fifth goal at 29:32 assisted by freshman Madison Johnson. Sophomore Molly Fitzpatrick scored the sixth and seventh goals at 45:37 (junior Victoria Sierra assist) and 48:51 (Sierra and freshman Alison Witkiewicz). Witkiewicz scored the eighth goal at 66:43 and was assisted by Jocelyn Lopez. Gretchen Dedolph scored the 9th goal at 89:34 and Ayndi Wimmer and Molly Fitzpatrick assisted it. The final goal was scored by Zoe Harrison at 89:38 and assisted by Molly Fitzpatrick.
The women’s soccer team will be on the road against Agnes Scott College on Oct. 1.
—John Dieterly
Volleyball
The volleyball team competed in a conference tri-match in Mississippi on Sept. 29, falling short in both matches 3-1. They faced Maryville in their first contest and Belhaven directly after.
Against Maryville, the Lions lost a close first set 24-26, then won the second set 25-21. Maryville then took over the match, winning the next two sets 25-13 and 25-10.
The Lions next match against Belhaven had the same result, this time with the Lions winning the third set 25-21, but losing the first, second and fourth.
“I think we’re getting better at becoming a team. I think there’s still things we need to work on.” said senior Vanessa Manzo, who led the team in assists in both matches. “I think we’re starting to come together.”
Senior Jessica Sconyers led the Lions in kills in their first match, logging 10, with her and junior Katie Hubbard tying in kills against Belhaven with 10.
This was the team’s first taste of conference play, and the Lions showed promise against fierce competition. Six of the Lions’ 16 players are freshmen and have competed well in a tough opening schedule.
The two losses bring the Lions’ record to 0-9 under interim head coach Jeff Black. The Lions are still adjusting to their new coach and a young, promising roster. They will look to put their first win in the books in Cave Arena on Oct. 5, where they will compete in another tri-match against Covenant and LaGrange.
—Grant Prather
Women’s Tennis
Over the weekend, the Piedmont Lady Lions headed to Rome, Georgia, to compete in the ITA Regionals. The Lady Lions competed against teams like Suwanee, Emory, and NC Wesleyan.
Because of the storms from Hurricane Helene, many of the Lady Lions either didn’t play at all or didn’t play singles or doubles. Although the storms deteriorated the tournament, it didn’t stop Piedmont from dominating their competition. Senior Alyssa McSpadden and Junior Jordan Ballard made it to the second day in the main draw in singles. Seniors Lizzie Ivey and Anna Lassiter dominated as a doubles tandem as they made it to the finals.
“I feel the team played well this weekend against strong opponents in Emory, Suwanee, and NC Wesleyan,” said assistant coach Silas Sandles. “With it being early in the season, the girls can work on things mechanically and tactically to improve to win the CCS this year.”
The Lady Lions will travel to Belmont, N.C., to compete in the Belmont Abbey Tournament on Oct 10-11.
—Damyon Traylor
Men’s Tennis
This past weekend the Piedmont men’s tennis team traveled to Berry College to compete in the ITA South Regional championships. The majority of the singles matches were canceled due to the weather over the weekend, but the Lions still were able to compete. While they dropped both doubles sets Saturday morning, junior Yannick Wassmer Navvaro found success in singles matches and made his way to the 2nd round of the tournament before withdrawing due to injury.
“Most of the singles draws had to be canceled due to inclement weather on both Saturday and Sunday,” said head coach Matt Williams. “I was looking forward to good competition for our entire roster, but instead, we will look forward to the second week in October.”
The Lions started slow, losing both of their main draw doubles matches 8-0 and 8-4 to duos from Sewanee University, and though it looked like the team would take a similar path in the singles tournament, the Lions lost their first three main draw singles matches.
The Lions next look forward to a tournament on our home courts as they will compete in the Piedmont fall foliage classic Oct. 11-12.
—Caden Hardman
