No. 3 Wittenberg University women's volleyball team posted a 3-0 win over Penn State Behrend an opening NCAA Division III Regional match on Friday afternoon hosted by Otterbein University. The Tigers (23-2) recorded a 25-10, 25-17 and 25-11 win over the Lions (19-12) thanks to double-digit kills in each set and hitting .391 as a team to advance to the second round on Saturday.
Maddie Fischer led with nine kills for Wittenberg. Taylor Yontz added 10 digs and Karen Wildeman dished out 31 assists. For Behrend, Amanda Henry knocked down a team-best six kills and Emily Archer added five. Hannah Saunders recorded 17 assists, eight digs, two blocks, two kills and one ace. Rachel Frye finished with four kills.
With the first set at a 6-all deadlock, Wittenberg rattled off the next seven points for a 13-6 lead that would not relinquish. The Tigers one the next six points out of seven for a 19-7 lead and ended the set on a kill from Wildemann at 25-10. Behrend could not recover from a quick 5-0 lead by Wittenberg in the second set. The Lions got within three on four occasions, including 17-14. The Tigers only allowed three more points and then relied on a 4-0 spurt at the end, closing once again with a Wildemann kill at 25-17. Wildemann served nine straight points for Wittenberg in the third set to take a commanding lead at 13-3. Similar to the second set, the Tigers closed out with a 5-0 run and getting the last point on a service ace by Taylor Brown at 25-11.
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In the ECAC postseason tournament, No. 3 Penn State Altoona women's volleyball's season came to an end on Wednesday night, when it suffered a 3-0 loss to No. 2 Westminster College at the Buzz Ridl Gymnasium in the first round of Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Championship Tournament. With the loss, the Lady Lions (13-14) are eliminated from the tournament. Westminster advances to face Frostburg State University, the top seed in "Pod 4" of the ECAC Tournament bracket, on Saturday, November 11. Westminster (27-6) swept Penn State Altoona in straight sets by scores of 25-16, 25-7, and 25-23.
The Lady Lions were led in kills, digs, and service aces by Kelsey Bristol, who finished the evening with nine kills, a match-high 16 digs, and two aces. Lauren Diller added eight kills, 10 digs, and one block assist. Josie Stovall put up four kills, three digs, and one block assist. Velanna Skripek also finished with four kills to go along with four digs and a block assist.
Lauren Moran totaled a team-best 13 set assists while also posting 10 digs. Emily Bryan added nine assists and four digs. Nicole Kiser recorded eight digs, Kaitlin Cassaday tallied five digs, and Tara Ryan had one block assist.
Down 12-5 in the first set, Penn State Altoona used a six-point run to get back into the game. Four of those six points came off of kills from Skripek, Diller, Stovall, and Bristol, and another was from Bryan's ace. Bristol's kill and ace kept the Lady Lions within one point, 14-13, of Westminster's lead. But the Titans rallied to outscore Penn State Altoona 12-3 during the rest of the set to earn a comfortable nine-point win. Westminster jumped out to another big lead in the second set, staking out an 8-1 advantage in the early going. Penn State Altoona picked up a little momentum midway through the set after kills from Bristol, Skripek, and Stovall made it 11-5, but the Titans went on to wrap up the set with a 14-3 run. The Titans opened the third set with a 6-0 run and later reeled off eight straight points en route to a 14-2 lead. Penn State Altoona ended the set on a strong note, scoring 17 of the final 24 points.