Huntingdon advances to USA South semifinals for first time

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon volleyball team downed Covenant College in three games on Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the USA South Athletic Conference Tournament.

The Hawks beat the Scots 25-17, 25-16, 25-19 to advance to the USA South semifinals for the first time since joining the conference in 2013. This is the fourth straight season Huntingdon has reached the conference tournament. Tuesday marked the third consecutive appearance in the USA South quarterfinals.

Huntingdon (23-14), the No. 2 seed in the West Division, will play Averett (18-15) in the semifinals on Friday at 5:30 p.m. (Central). Averett, the No. 1 seed in the East Division, will host the semifinals and finals. Maryville (25-6) and Meredith (20-8) will play in the other semifinal at 3 p.m. (Central).

The winners will play for the conference championship on Saturday at 2 p.m. (Central).

Huntingdon controlled all three games in the win against Covenant. April Reese (14), Amy Tyma (12) and Addison Genard (7) combined for 33 of the Hawks' 42 kills and Ashley Murphy (18) and Morgan Ilsley (15) combined for 33 assists. Tyma (26), Lexie DeVuyst (12), Ilsley (9) and Reese (7) combined for 54 digs.

Click here for the USA South Tournament website

Records: Huntingdon (23-14); Covenant (11-18)

Notable

Tyma ranked second in Division III: With the release of the most recent national statistics, junior Amy Tyma ranks second in Division III in kills this season. Entering Tuesday's match, Tyma had 512 kills and April Gehl (University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point) led Division III with 559 kills.

As a team, Huntingdon ranks fifth in Division III in kills and eighth in assists.

Setting the tone: Huntingdon setter Ashley Murphy recorded her 851st assist of the season in Tuesday night's win. Since the NCAA went to the current scoring format in 2008, Murphy is the first Hawk to reach 850 assists in a season. Her assist total is the most by a Huntingdon player since Julie Wahl recorded 1,028 in 2006.

Huntingdon Stat Leaders

vs. Covenant College

Kills: April Reese (14), Amy Tyma (12), Addison Genard (7)

Assists: Ashley Murphy (18), Morgan Ilsley (15)                            

Digs: Amy Tyma (26), Lexie DeVuyst (12), Morgan Ilsley (9), April Reese (7)

Aces: Ashley Murphy (3)

Blocks: Addison Genard (3)

Coming Up: Huntingdon will play Averett in the USA South Tournament semifinals at Averett on Friday at 5:30 p.m. (Central)