Beaver shuts out Mont Alto, 3-0

By: Matylda Zamudio

Monaca, Pa. -- For their second home game this week, the Lady Lions took on conference rival Penn State Mont Alto on Sunday afternoon. The ladies struggled against Penn State DuBois last Monday, and the loss dropped their record to 2-4 overall in the conference and are in sixth place in the west for the PSUAC standings. Beaver looks to bounce back in the conference by securing a conference win against Mont Alto.

As the first set began, Dubois got an early 0-2 lead over Beaver, but the ladies locked in on offense and went on a run at 8-4; Mont Alto then called a time-out. Beaver stayed aggressive and maintained a few-point lead. Then, Amanda Mike scored a service ace, which increased Beaver's lead to 13-8 halfway through the period. But Mont Alto got hot on offense and with the help of a fast run, the visitor's tied the set at 15-15. Beaver took its first time-out. As the set went on, Brooke Tomasko scored back to back points for Beaver, including a service ace (21-18), which prompted Mont Alto to take the second time-out. In the final minutes of the set, Mont Alto refused to go down and once again tied the game at 21-21. However, Mont Alto then made errors and went down 21-23. Then, Alexis Albrecht scored a late-set ace and the game was at set-point. Mont Alto then hit the ball out of bounds, and Beaver won the set 25-21.

In the second set, Beaver allowed a four-point run early on the set. Mont Alto kept the pressure on Beaver and forced another five-point run against the team (4-11); Beaver then took a time-out. But the Lady Lions got the offense going and starting hacking points off Mont Alto's lead. Midway through the second set, Ramiya scored back-to-back points for Beaver and put Beaver in striking distance at 11-13, which caused Mont Alto to take a time-out. With momentum shifting to Beaver and Mont Alto hitting a ball at its side of the net, Beaver grabbed the lead at 15-14. The set remained close with Beaver only up by a few points, but in the final minutes, Stephanie Stadjudar scored back to back points, giving Beaver a six-point lead at 23-17. Beaver then took the second 25-18.

Up 2-0, the third set proved to be more competitive for Beaver. Maria got an early service ace at 2-1 but Mont Alto quickly answered to tie the game at 2-2. On the next rally, Tomasko tipped the ball over the next and earned Beaver another point at 3-2; Mont Alto took a time-out. Beaver started to make errors and the game tied again at 4-4, but then Amanda Mike leaped into the air and threw down a powerful kill (5-4). Albrecht, who was at serve, then scored a service ace and widen the team's lead by two points. Beaver found its offensive rhythm and was clicking on all gears and earned an eight-point run at 12-4; Mont Alto then took another time-out. The set wasn't in the bag though. Mont Alto fought back hard and cut Beaver's lead down to only two points towards the end of the third set at 21-19. The victors then tied the game at 22-22, and Beaver took another time-out. Then, Tomasko earned another kill at put the game at set-point 24-23. However, Mont Alto didn't waver and earned back to back points to steal the lead from Beaver at 25-24. But on the last play of the set, White tipped the ball over to Mont Alto's side of the court and won the game for Beaver 27-25. Beaver's final score was 3-0.

Beaver performed great in Sunday's win thanks to a collective effort from the players. After tacking on another conference win Sunday, Beaver improves to 3-4 in the conference and now takes over fourth place in the west in the PSUAC standings. The Lady Lions return for more conference play on Tuesday, Oct.9, where the team will travel to Penn State Greater Allegheny. Game time is set at 7 p.m.