ERIE, Pa. - The AMCC Game of the Week was as competitive as anticipated. The Redhawks dropped a 3-2 battle to the Lions this afternoon despite a late effort comeback. Behrend remains the conferences top seed at 6-0 in AMCC action while La Roche sits at 4-3, currently the sixth and final playoff seed. La Roche is now 2-13 on the road or at neutral locations this season. Good news is, two of their final three matches of the regular season will be at the Kerr Sport & Fitness Center where they own a 6-2 record and have won three straight. Franciscan, Medaille and D'Youville (La Roche's final three opponents) have a combined record of 4-11 in conference play.
As a team, the Redhawks recorded 44 kills on the day compared to the Lions 51 while committing 33 errors compared to Behrend's 24.
Final: La Roche: 2, Penn St. Behrend: 3
Records: La Roche (8-15, AMCC: 4-3), Penn St. Behrend (12-10, AMCC: 6-0)
Synopsis:
In the first set, La Roche jumped ahead early 7-2 behind two kills from Junior middle hitter Ingrid Spear. The Redhawks would hold the lead for the remainder of the set, winning 25-22 to go up 1-0.
Behrend took command of the second set going up 10-2 early and never looked back. The Lions kept their foot on the gas winning the set 10-25 to even the match at one game a piece.
The third set was close up until the half-way mark when Behrend went on 10-2 run to go up 2-1.
After being behind by as many as four points in the fourth set, La Roche fought their way back into the set and won 25-22 behind a series of kills from Freshman outside hitter Mackenzie Jeric. The Redhawks were unable to carry that momentum into the deciding set where they fell 5-15.
LEADING THE ATTACK: Spear finished with a team-high 11 kills on the day. This season, she has 146 total kills (2nd on team) and a .255 hitting percentage (3rd in the AMCC).
SET EM' UP: Senior setter Bailey McDonald led La Roche with 32 assists. McDonald has now recorded 30 or more assists in three of her last four performances and ranks 6th in the AMCC with 428 this season.
BACK ROW PLAY: McDonald also had a team and season-high 23 digs. Three other Redhawks finished with 10+ digs (Senior Erin Connor: 17, Senior Reilee Bradford: 12, Freshman Cassidy Rossi: 10).
AT THE NET: Spear finished with six blocks in the match (4 solo, 2 assisted). She is currently second among Division III volleyball players in solo-blocks this season with 45, 20 more than the next highest in the AMCC).
NEXT UP: La Roche is back home next Saturday, October 26th when they host Medaille College. Match time is set for 1:00 p.m.