#3 Penn State Altoona and #4 Pitt-Bradford each secured victories in the first round of the AMCC Women's Volleyball Championship Tournament to advance to the semifinals on Saturday afternoon. Penn State Altoona cruised to a 3-0 win over #6 Mount Aloysius College and Pitt-Bradford was triumphant over #5 La Roche University, 3-1.
Penn State Altoona 3, Mount Aloysius 0
#3 Penn State Altoona took care of #6 Mount Aloysius in three sets by scores of 25-11, 25-12, and 25-15. The victory is the Lions' eighth in a row, and it is the team's sixth straight sweep. With the win, Penn State Altoona advances to the semifinal round of the AMCC Tournament. Makenna Bauer led all players in Wednesday's match in points and kills, finishing with 11.5 points and 10 kills to go along with six digs, one service ace, and one block assist. Lydia Mock had 8.5 points on eight kills and a block assist, and she also tallied five digs. Taylor Myers posted six kills to go along with seven digs and one ace. Alexis Cannistraci had a team-high two block assists while recording five kills. Grace Shelley added two kills. Kayla Moran totaled a team-best 30 assists while also contributing six digs, one kill, and one ace. Erin Lutz finished with a match-high 19 digs.
The Lions will face number two seed Alfred State College in a conference semifinal match this Saturday, November 6 at 4:30 p.m. at Penn State Behrend.
Pitt-Bradford 3, La Roche 1
Pitt-Bradford returned to their winning ways on Wednesday, as they won their quarterfinal matchup in the AMCC Championship tournament over LaRoche 3-1. The Panthers easily took the first two sets 25-15 and 25-11, and after losing a tight 3rd set 24-26, closed strong with a 25-13 win in the fourth to end the match. Emily Cleveland led the way for the Panthers, finishing with 15 kills. She hit .268 in the match and added one assist, one ace, one block, and 8 digs. Olivia Reese also reached double figures with 11 kills while adding seven digs. Tabitha Walker finished the match with a double-double, recording 21 assists and 14 digs. She also had six kills, an ace, and a block. Emma King also set a career-high with five kills on just 12 swings. Chloe Bellis set a new career-high with 12 assists. Defensively, Kayla Maslowski collected 22 blocks while Kaitlyn Sexton accounted for four total blocks to go along with her seven kills.
The win moves the Panthers to 18-7 on the season, while also advancing them into the AMCC semifinal round. In the next round, they will face top-seeded Penn State-Behrend at 2:00 p.m. in Erie.