Beaver drops two in their first matches of the season.

Monaca, PA -- In the season opening tournament Beaver faced Penn State Greater Allegheny in their first match.  Getting off to a slow start, with only three kills in the first set, Beaver fell by a score of 17-25.  They quickly picked up their offense in the second set nearly doubling their kill total, but six service errors kept them on their heels as they fell 15-25.  In the final set of the match Beaver battled, but struggled on offense and fell in the set 16-25 dropping the match 3-0.

In their second match of the evening Beaver faced off against USCAA foe Robert Morris Springfield for the first time under head coach, BJ Bertges.  In the first set, Beaver played timid and dropped the set.  In the second set, Beaver came out ready to play.  In the set they had 5 aces as well as 7 kills and which were lead by senior, Natalie Gamble (McKees Rocks, PA/Sto-Rox)  with 3 kills in 5 attempts.  Set three saw the same adversity as set one and despite their hustle they fell 11-25.  The fourth and final set was full of excitement as Beaver had the lead two seperate times.  Their intensity was through the roof and their serving was the best it had been all evening as the team posted 6 aces in the set, lead by freshman, Julianna Kon (Hopewell, PA/Hopewell) with three.  Despite the push at the end to nearly even the score, Beaver fell 20-25 dropping the match by a score of 3-1.

Leading the offense on the day were Gamble with 10 kills, and Ryanne Kie (Laguna, NM/Luguna Acoma) with 9 kills.  From the service line sophomore, Brittany Davids (Beaver Falls, PA/Blackhawk) and Kon both earned 4 aces on the day.  Defensively, Gamble and Kie lead the way with 16 and 11 digs respectively. 

Beaver takes to the court again tomorrow in day two of action in the USCAA Pre-season Tournament.  Their first match of the day, scheduled for 11:00am, is against Alfred State which will be followed by Rochester College at 1:00pm. 

Coach Bertges is extremely proud of her young team as they did a lot of the little things well tonight like hustling to finish rallies and using their tough serving to get them back into sets.  She is looking forward to day two of action.