Lady Lions rallies past Greater Allegheny, 3-0.

By: Matylda Zamudio

MCKEESPORT, Pa.— The Penn State Beaver women's volleyball team secured its third conference win of the season against host Penn State Greater Allegheny Saturday afternoon, 3-0. 

In Set one, the Lady Lions came out aggressive with an early 6-2 run. Penn State Greater Allegheny cut Beaver's lead to 3 points at 9-7 and then at 11-8. However, Beaver started to build up the lead with the help of three kills from senior Amanda Mike (Hopewell), who was assisted sophomore Kelsie Hallum (Hopewell), and a block by sophomore Maria Slater (Houston/Elsik) to put Beaver up 15-8. Beaver kept its foot on the gas and claimed their most dominant set win 25-15.

The teams played a closer contest in set two, starting with Greater Allegheny forging a 5-1 run followed by Beaver cutting the deficit to only 1 point (6-5) with the help of the kills from sophomore Ramiya White (Westland/Wayne Memorial). The game stayed close for the next few rallies, but the ladies of Greater Allegheny started to put some distance on the scoreboard between them and Beaver, building up a 5-point lead at 17-12. Down the stretch, a kill by Hallum tied the game at 20-20, which fostered a comeback for the Lady Lions to take a close-set victory at 25-23, going up 2-0 in the match.

The teams battled it out again in set three, with the teams staying within a few points of each other and then tying at 17-17. Beaver then took a 4-0 run, starting with three straight kills from Mike to put Beaver knocking on the backdoor of a victory (21-17). Sophomore Emily Keener (Utica) dealt the final blow with a late-set kill to give Beaver a 25-22 win in third and a 3-0 win for the day.

Mike led the offense with 13 kills, four digs and two service aces, followed by White, who tallied up nine kills and one block. Hallum finished with 33 assists, five digs and three kills. On defense, sophomore Heaven Bowman (Houston/Dulles) finished with 16 digs and one kill.

Beaver now stands at (7-4) overall for the regular season and 3-1 in the PSUAC conference standings. 

The Lady Lions will return for more conference action on Tuesday, Sept. 24, where they will host PSUAC rival Penn State Fayette. The game begins at 7:30 p.m.