Hot Hitting Lifts Lions Past D'Youville

ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend women's volleyball team won their third straight match by a score of 3-0, this time blanking D'Youville in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) action on Wednesday night.

The hot hitting carried over from last night's 3-0 win over Fredonia with the Lions (14-7, 5-0 AMCC) registering a .299 attack percentage for three sets led once again by Catherine Healy (Connellsville, PA/Connellsville). The sophomore middle hitter was near perfect with 11 kills and one error for a .588 hitting percentage to help Behrend remain undefeated in conference play.

The Lions have not lost a set to the Spartans (4-18, 1-3 AMCC) since the 2004 season, earning a 25-15, 25-12 and 25-17 victory.

Mary Sperry (Atlantic, PA/Conneaut Lake) matched Healy with 11 kills and Chelsea Magnusen (Plum, PA/Plum) had 36 assists on 44 total team kills.

It was Alyssa Pears (Meadville, PA/Meadville) and Lindsay Bean (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBeouf) that registered two kills each to help the Lions take a 15-9 lead in the first set. Healy tallied another kill to make it 20-11 and Behrend won on a service error to jump ahead, 1-0.

In the second set, Bean continued to attack the net and knocked in four kills out of the six points that gave the Lions a 13-6 edge behind Magnusen's serve. Ariana Rosario-Fuste (San Juan, Puerto Rico/University) helped Behrend earn the final three points, closing out the serves and getting a kill from Sperry for a 25-12 win.

After taking a 10-1 lead in the third set, D'Youville managed to get within five on three occasions. The Lions fought back and got a kill from Sperry and Bean, while taking advantage of a pair of errors by the Spartans to close out the third set, 25-17.

Pears finished with a.429 attack percentage, eight kills, four digs, two aces and two assists.

Behrend returns to action on Saturday at La Roche. Match time is at 1 p.m.