The Behrend Lions had won seven of their last nine games coming into the match up against the Pitt-Bradford Panthers at the Junker Center on Wednesday, October 29. The match had huge playoff implications as the blue and white entered the game unbeaten in AMCC play (7-0) while the Panthers were 6-1.
The Behrend Lions jumped on the Panthers with a 25-10 win in the first game. The blue and white would then come out flat in the second game falling by a score of 19-25. The Behrend Lions would eventually take the match in four games winning 25-23 and 25-20. The blue and white now move to 8-0 in the AMCC and 20-8 overall. The win gives the Behrend Lions at least a share of the AMCC regular season title and Behrend can claim its third regular season title in the past four years with a win Saturday at Penn State Altoona.
Against Pitt-Bradford the Behrend Lions were led by sophomore Aubry Regan (Edinboro/General McLane) and freshman Lauren Dalton (Cochranton/Cochranton). Regan contributed 10 kills on the night with a .381 hitting percentage. Dalton led the team with 16 kills, and also pitched in seven digs on the night. Sheila Ogden (Grove City/Grove City) put down nine kills to go with four blocks for the blue and white. Liz Emerick (Hopewell/Hopewell) came through with 26 digs to lead the Behrend Lions. Stefanie Kelley (Moon Township/Moon) tallied 19 digs while Brittany Hennessy (Hopewell/Hopewell) had 18 digs.
Before the match Hennessy was honored for her four years with the women's volleyball team. Her 18 digs added to her school record, pushing her total to 2,059 in the past four years. To date, Hennessy's teams have a career record of 93-32.
The blue and white will close out the regular season with a road trip to take on Penn State Altoona on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. With tonight's win the Behrend Lions clinched the #1 seed for the conference tournament and will host the semifinals and finals in the Junker Center. The #1 and #2 seeds will receive byes for the conference tournament while #4 vs. #5 and #3 vs. #6 will take place on Tuesday, November 4 in first-round action. Semifinal matches will begin on Friday, November 7 when the winner of the #4 vs. #5 match plays the Behrend Lions at 6:00 p.m. Following will be the second semifinal where by the winner of #3 vs. #6 will play the #2 seed team at 8:00 p.m. Pairings for the tournament will be set after Saturday's AMCC contests.
