Beaver falls short against Fayette
By: Matylda Zamudio
Monaca, Pa.— The Penn State Beaver women's volleyball team was back in action on Saturday afternoon for day two of the USCAA Volleyball Tip-Off, where the lady lions took on conference rivals Penn State Fayette. Despite a strong first set victory, the ladies fell to the rivals 3-1.
Beaver came out strong against Fayette in the first set, picking up a solid 25-16 victory in the first set to give the ladies an early 1-0 lead. But Fayette flipped the script in the next set and handed Beaver a 25-16 loss in second. The lady lions looked to bounce back in third but couldn't pull ahead, taking a 25-18 loss to put the down 2-1. While the team aimed to even the score in the fourth, the lady lions couldn't slow down Fayette's momentum and fell 25-16 in the final set, resulting in a 3-1 loss for the day.
Senior Amanda Mike (Hopewell) led the offense with 8 kills, 2 services aces and 6 digs, followed by freshman Mine' Okoloko (Boca Raton/ NMH), who ended the day with 7 kills and also had one block in the game. Sophomore Emily Keener (Utica) and sophomore Maria Slater (Houston/ Elsik) also contributed to the offense with 3 services aces apiece.
Sophomore Heaven Bowman (Houston/ Dulles) led the defense with an impressive 20 digs, followed by sophomore Cheyenne Sherman (Wellsboro/ Wellsboro Area), who recorded 10 digs of her own.
Sophomore Kelsie Hallum (Hopewell) also had a noteworthy performance with 17 assists and 5 digs.
After today's match, Beaver now sits at a 1-2 overall record.
The lady lions will be back at home on Wednesday, Sept. 4 to Butler County Community College. The game is slated for 6 p.m.
*More to come on this story.