Lady Lions go 2-0 in tri-match

By: Matylda Zamudio

MONACA, Pa.— The Penn State Beaver women's volleyball team defended its homecourt during Saturday's Tri-Match, where the team went 2-0 against PSUAC rivals Penn State Shenango and the Community College of Beaver County.

While Shenango built a five-point lead midway through the first set, which forced Beaver to call a timeout, the offense started gelling, which forced several errors by Shenango to put the set at 18-16 and take a time-out. The set stayed close at 24-21, but the Lady Lions hung on took a 25-21 set-win in the first. The Lady Lions then played their most dominant game-one set in the second, starting with an early 6-2 run. As the set proceeded, Beaver maintained a four-point lead at 16-12, but two kills by sophomore Ramiya White (Westland/Wayne Memorial) combined with a pair of aces by sophomore Emily Keener (Utica) over the next eight rallies put Beaver at set-point (24-12). Then, Keener put down another service ace to hand Shenango a double-digit loss (25-12). But the Lady Lions and Shenango slugged it out in the third, with the teams tying at 20-20 late in the set. The teams went back-and-forth, but a late kill by senior Amanda Mike (Hopewell) put Beaver at set-match. But Shenango kept fighting at tied it up again at 24-24. However, White and Keener closed it out by combining for two final kills (26-24) and a 3-0 win for Beaver in game one.

White led the offense with 10 kills, followed by Keener who contributed eight service aces. Sophomore Kelsie Hallum (Hopewell) led the team in assists, finishing with 25 in game one. On defense, sophomore Heaven Bowman (Houston/Dulles) finished with nine digs, followed by sophomore Maria Slater (Houston/Elsik) with two blocks.

The momentum of Shenango's defeat carried over for Beaver in game two against CCBC, staring with a dominant 25-9 win in set one. The teams played a closer set in the second, but Beaver pulled out a 25-21 win. Beaver had another dominant performance in the third, taking CCBC down by 25-10, to finish 3-0 in game two and 2-0 for the day.

Mike led the offense in kills with nine, while Keener led in aces with seven. Hallum led the team in assists with 19, and Bowman led in digs with seven.

After today's wins, Beaver improves to (13-6) overall for the regular season and 4-3 in the PSUAC conference standings. 

The Lady Lions will host Penn State New Kensington in this Monday's PSUAC conference bout on Oct. 7. The game is slated for 7 p.m.