Beaver's Streak Snapped; D'Youville Earns Sweep

September 20, 2011

Monaca, PA - The Penn State Beaver Women's Volleyball Team (3-5, 2-0 PSUAC) were swept (25-16, 25-9, 27-25) by the Lady Spartans of D'Youville College (Buffalo, NY), which snapped their 3-game winning streak.

In the first set, the Lady Lions committed four consecutive unforced errors to hand the Lady Spartans a slim 6-3 lead. However, a Natalie Gamble kill (Sto-Rox/McKees Rock, PA) cut the lead to 6-5. D'Youville took a 8-6 lead before Beaver rallied for six straight points. Beaver scored on five consecutive D'Youville errors and their run was capped by a Kayona Ward (Beaver Falls/Beaver Falls, PA) emphatic kill at the net. With the score in Lady Lions' favor, the set saw two more ties and two more lead changes, before D'Youville ran off 12 of the next 15 set points to take the 1-0 lead.

The second set did not go as Coach Dan Smith had planned, as the Lady Lions found themselves down early by a score of 5-3. The Lady Spartans unbelievably scored the next 19 set points, to put Beaver in a insurmountable whole. Beaver did notch six more set points before falling by a score of 25-9.

Beaver looked to recover in the third set. Amanda Palombo (Quigley Catholic/Aliquippa, PA) led the set off with a kill, while Gamble added a block and Ella Epps (Penn Hills/Pittsburgh, PA) had a service ace to give Beaver a 3-0 lead. Beaver extended its lead to 16-5 behind a Ward kill, a Gina Richman (Union/Edinburg, PA) ace and kill, and numerous D'Youville return errors. However, the Lady Spartans cut the lead 17-10, but Beaver pushed the set to 22-13 and looked to have things in order.

A questionable call at the net, gave D'Youville some momentum and the Spartans cut the lead to 22-21 before Beaver called its second timeout of the set. Beaver was just one point from getting to a fourth set, but D'Youville tied it at 24-24 and then had a service error to give Beaver a 25-24 advantage. Unfortunately, Beaver could not hold on as D'Youville won the next three set points to take the match 3-0.

In the game, Palombo led Beaver with six kills, while Gamble added 5 and Grubbs had four. Grubbs also notched 13 assists, while Richman added two of her own. Ward and Grubbs led the way with 21 digs each, while Gamble (19) and Epps (14) record double digit digs as well. Gamble also led the team in blocks with two.

Beaver take their undefeated conference record to three-time PSUAC defending Champion, Penn State Fayette (Uniontown, PA), for an important road contest on Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 7 p.m.