Beaver Serves up a Win Against Carlow
By: Matylda Zamudio
Monaca, Pa. -- The Penn State Beaver women's volleyball team took on Carlow on Thursday evening, in the team's second home game of the week. While the ladies have lost some close matches this season, they have performed well at home, racking up four wins in the last five home games. In their last game on Monday night, the Lady Lions defeated Butler County Community College (3-0), improving the team's record to 4-5 overall for the season thus far. Beaver hopes to tally up another win before competing in two PSUAC matches this upcoming weekend.
Beaver and Carlow were neck-to-neck in the first set, and the score remained tight for the entire set. The crowd's eyes were glued to the court as the two teams battled back and forth. The Beaver ladies dueled until the end but Carlow edged out the lead and won the first set, 25-22.
Looking refocused and determined, the Lady Lions got more aggressive on offense and gained an early lead. Carlow began to feel the pressure from Beaver, which forced them to make seven errors. Beaver outscored Carlow (15-9) on kills and won the set, 25-21.
With a set under each team's belt, the stakes were high in the third set. While the previous sets remained close, Carlow made another seven errors, helping to widen the point-margin for Beaver, who also outscored Carlow (11-5) on kills. The ladies earned their second set-win of the night, 25-12.
The victory was only set away for Beaver as the fourth set began, and the ladies had their eye on the prize. Although Beaver had a one-set advantage over Carlow, the teams kept pace with each other and kept the game within a few points throughout the set. Beaver did a good job disturbing the ball and thanks to some key blocks, the team pulled out another set-win (25-20) and ended the night with a final score of 3-1.
The ladies had a valiant season performance against Carlow, and the team now sits at 5-5 overall. Brooke Tomasko led the offense with 12 kills and 2 service aces. Stephanie Stadjuhar followed right behind her with 7 kills and added 5 service aces. Emily Keener dominated on defense, dishing out 25 assists and 2 block solos. Heaven Bowman also had an impressive performance on defense, recording 11 digs in the four sets she played.
Beaver will play back-to-back PSUAC games this weekend, the first of which is against Penn State Greater Allegheny on Saturday, Sept. 22. Gametime is set for 2 p.m.