ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend women's volleyball team racked up 26 blocks and 14 services aces en route to a pair of wins in their home opener. The Lions defeated St. Vincent 3-2 and Kenyon 3-0 in the Junker Center on Saturday.
The Lions (4-2) defeated the Bearcats for the first time in program history (25-19, 19-25, 21-25, 25-23, 15-13) in an exciting five-set match. Behrend then went on to handle the Ladies in three sets, 25-21, 25-14 and 25-15.
The Lions, currently riding a four-match win streak, took the first game from St. Vincent before dropping the next two games. In a do-or-die game four, both teams were tied on nine occasions. With the score tied at 21-all, Ashley Solo (Irwin, PA/Penn-Trafford) knocked in a kill after two Bearcat errors to make it 23-21. Another St. Vincent error made it match point but the fought within one at 24-23. Solo recorded another kill off a set from Chelsea Magnusen (Plum, PA/Plum) to force a game five.
In another close game, the Lions never trailed and were even with the Bearcats twice. Once again, Solo tallied two important kills down the stretch to help Behrend capture its first match. Solo finished with a team-best 14 kills and 16 digs, while Mary Sperry (Atlantic, PA/Conneaut Lake) added 13 kills and 20 digs.
Sperry earned her second double-double of the day in the win over Kenyon, posting 14 kills on two errors and 11 digs. After winning by four points in game one, the Lions saved some of their best hitting for the final two games. Behrend opened game two with seven straight points behind the serving of Tory Storino (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin). The lead grew to nine points at 19-10 and the Lions used five out of their eight total aces to down Kenyon, 25-14.
Behrend had 15 kills with one error on 33 attacks to hit .424 in game three. Sperry tallied eight kills while Alyssa Pears (Meadville, PA/Meadville) knocked in three of the last four points to seal the victory. Storino finished with 11 digs and Catherine Healy (Connellsville, PA/Connellsville) added four kills. Healy also recorded six blocks on the day and Lindsay Bean (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) collected five against St. Vincent.
The Lions are back in action on Tuesday at Grove City. Match begins at 6:30 p.m.
