Harrisburg Gets Past Altoona 3-1
ALTOONA, Pa. – Penn State Altoona women's volleyball suffered its first home loss of the season on Tuesday night, when non-conference opponent Penn State Harrisburg pulled out a 3-1 win in the Adler Arena.
Harrisburg (11-5) won the first set 25-18, but Penn State Altoona (7-3) answered with a 25-18 win of their own in the second set to tie the match score. However, the visitors held off a Lions' comeback bid in the third set to win it 25-23, then grinded out a 28-26 victory in the fourth set to take the match.
Lydia Mock (Alum Bank, PA/Chestnut Ridge) and Lacee Barnhart (Bellefonte, PA/Bald Eagle) tied for the match-high in points with 15.5 each. Mock led all players with 15 kills to go along with 10 digs and one block assist, and Barnhart finished with 14 kills while adding 18 digs and two block assists.
Makenna Bauer (Tyrone, PA/Tyrone) posted 10 kills, nine digs, two service aces, and one block assist. Grace Shelley (York, PA/York Catholic) recorded five kills and three block assists, and Alexis Cannistraci (Tyrone, PA/Tyrone) also had five kills on a .364 attack percentage while chipping in one block assist. Taylor Myers (Morrisdale, PA/West Branch) had two kills and one block assist.
Kayla Moran (Boalsburg, PA/State College) tallied a match-high 44 assists, and she also recorded 12 digs, one block assist, and one ace.
Erin Lutz (State College, PA/State College) led all players on the night in digs with 22, and she chipped in three assists and two aces. Allie Godwin (Pittsburgh, PA/West Allegheny) added four digs.
In the first set, Penn State Altoona found itself tied 7-7 with Harrisburg, but the visiting team pulled away after that, eventually leading by as many as nine points, 21-12. The Lions were unable to get anything going, and Harrisburg secured the opening set win.
Penn State Altoona showed much improvement in the second set, during which it swung at a .278 clip as a team. Shelley's kill, Lutz's ace, and Barnhart and Cannistraci's block helped the Lions reel off three straight points midway through, giving the home team an eight-point advantage, 15-7. Cannistraci's kill one point later kept the difference at eight, 16-8. Harrisburg trimmed its deficit to as little as three points, 18-15, but Penn State Altoona stayed on top the rest of the way. With a 21-18 lead, the Lions scored four straight points on Harrisburg attack errors to close out the set and even the match score at one set apiece.
Penn State Altoona recorded a match-best 17 kills during the third set, but the Lions still found themselves on the losing end. After taking a 2-1 lead, Harrisburg never trailed for the rest of the set, building a 24-17 advantage. However, Penn State Altoona did not go down quietly, mounting a rally to come within one point of tying the score. Barnhart's kill and two Harrisburg attack errors prompted a timeout by the visitors, and after the pause, Barnhart came back with two more kills while Lutz recorded an ace, narrowing Harrisburg's lead to 24-23. But the visitors ended the Lions' run with a kill, escaping the set with a two-point win.
The fourth set was just as hard-fought, as Penn State Altoona trailed for much of the set but rallied to tie the score 24-24. Bauer's ace put the Lions in front, but Harrisburg responded with a kill to tie things up at 25. After the teams traded attack errors in the next points, Harrisburg ended the set and the match with back-to-back kills.
Penn State Altoona women's volleyball's next match is on the road this Thursday, October 7, when the Lions will head to Latrobe to face non-conference opponent Saint Vincent College at 7:00 p.m. That match is the makeup of a previously-postponed date between the two teams from earlier this season.
