Beaver struggles against DuBois in conference match

By: Matylda Zamudio

Monaca, Pa. -- The Lady Lions battled in another conference match at home on Wednesday night, where they faced off against rival Penn State DuBois. This is the second time these two teams faced each other after DuBois defeated Beaver (0-3) on the road earlier in the season. The ladies are 2-3 in the PSUAC standings and aim to take a conference win at home tonight.

As the game began, the ladies looked off-rhythm, and DuBois took an early 4-0 lead against Beaver. Beaver battled back and thanks to a powerful spike from Brooke Tomasko, the game was tied at 4-4. But DuBois got hot and put Beaver down 8-14 before the team took a time-out. As the first set continued, Beaver kept struggling on offense and made errors at the net. Stephanie Stadjudar scored a late-set kill to put Beaver at 15-21. But in the finals minutes of the first set, DuBois went on another run and Beaver lost the set 16-25.

In the second set, Beaver made mistakes and gave up points early, giving DuBois a 5-0 lead. Tomasko earned a kill in the next rally to put Beaver on the board 1-5. DuBois kept the pressure on the Beaver ladies and refused to give up the lead (3-7). Then, DuBois had another big run, putting Beaver down 3-10 before taking the second time-out. In the latter half of the set, Beaver made a few sloppy plays and gave DuBois a 9-21. But DuBois made some errors at the net and Beaver started to come back, cutting DuBois's lead to eight points (15-23). Stadjudar scored another late-set kill, cutting the deficit to seven points. However, DuBois scored on the next rally, handing Beaver its second set-loss.

Down two sets, Beaver had to spark an offense right away. But once again, DuBois took another early lead, putting Beaver down 0-3 in the first minutes of the set. In the next few minutes, Emily made a serving error (1-4). Beaver's offense got it's second wind with a kill from Stadjudar and a block from Maria Slater, tieing the game at 6-6. Beaver scored again and took the lead, but DuBois immediately answered and tied the game at 8-8. DuBois went on the attack again, resulting in a six-point run before Beaver called a third time-out (9-15). Late in the third, the ladies fought back and got the game within striking distance at 19-23; DuBois then called a time-out. Despite Stadjudar earning another late-set kill, the ladies couldn't recover and lost the set 20-25. Beaver ends the game with a final score of 0-3.

Beaver falls to 2-4 after tonight's loss and is now sixth in the west for the PSUAC standings. The ladies have another chance to grab a conference win this week, as they host Penn State Mont Alto on Sunday, Oct. 7. Game time is at 12 p.m.