Beaver Hangs on to Win over Greater Allegheny

McKeesport, PA -- Beaver wins in five over Greater Allegheny.

After splitting yesterday, Beaver looked to earn one for the win column while on the road at rival Greater Allegheny.  After a convincing win in the first set, 25-16, the Lady Lions struggled into the second.  Finding themselves down 14-9 midyway through the set, they battled to get within one (16-17) but fell behind again after several service errors.  Aggressive serving from Ryanne "Roxy" Kie edged them back within two, but it was not enough to win the set as they fell 23-25.

The struggles continued in the third set for Beaver as they seemed to always be trailing by two.  Late in the set again aggressive serving from Alexis Albrecht, who aced to narrow the score to 22-23, got Beaver within striking distance but it was too little too late as they fell 22-25.  

Beaver's fourth set, with their backs against the wall, seemed to be heading in the same direction as the previous two until Brooke Tomasko took charge from the service line to tie the score at 19-19 after trailing by as many as four earlier in the set.  The Lady Lions fell behind again, 20-22, but tied the game at 22-22 with Amanda Mike at the service line.  A huge kill from Jenna Petrucci put Beaver within one point of the set win, 24-22 as the ladies hung on for the win 25-22.  

With the match score tied at 2-2, the teams headed into the fifth and final set.  Beaver took an earl 5-2 lead on good serving from Albrecht and a big kill from Imani Hargrove just two points later gave Beaver a 7-3 lead.  After giving up three points to Greate Allegheny, a kill from Tomasko took Beaver into the court switch at the halfway point.  From that point, Beaver never looked back, forcing Greater Allegheny to call at timeout at 10-6 after a Hargrove stuff block.  Tomasko put down a crucial kill at 12-7 and Albrecht forced the Greater Allegheny error to win the game by a final score of 15-9.  

Leading the offense were Hargrove and Tomasko with 14 kills a piece.  They were followed closely by Petrucci and Amanda Mike who each had 12 kills.  Kie did a wonderful job distributing the offense as all players had attacks in the double figures while she earned 4 kills of her own.  Defensively it was Tomasko and Jocelyn Krotec keeping Beaver alive as they made 22 and 18 digs respectively.  Hargrove made her pressence known at the net with 6 solo blocks.

The Lady Lions are now 11-3 in the PSUAC and will return to action on Tuesday night at home when they host Mercyhurst Northeast in a non-conference match-up scheduled for 6:00 p.m.