ERIE, Pa. – Rachel Frye (Leechburg, PA/Kiski Area) had a career-high 17 kills on 30 attack attempts with just two errors for a .500 hitting percentage to lead the Penn State Behrend women's volleyball team past Pitt-Bradford 3-1 in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) action on Tuesday night.
Senior libero Courtney Hopson (Erie, PA/McDowell) recorded a game-high 29 digs and Lindsay Bean (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) added 10 kills and three blocks to help the Lions (9-8, 3-0 AMCC) collect their third straight conference win by scores of 25-13, 18-25, 25-15, 25-19.
Hopson was recognized before the game for reaching 1,000 digs at the beginning of the season at the SUNY Brockport Tournament in a 3-1 win over Gordon College. She now is 11th all-time with 1,263 career digs.
It was Behrend's defense that got them the win in the first set, holding the Panthers to just seven points on offense for a 25-13 decision. The Lions trailed 4-3 early on in the set but quickly regained the lead that extended to 18-9 and forcing a Pitt-Bradford timeout. Behrend stretched the lead to 10 on two occasions and finished out the set with a kill from Hannah Saunders (Elizabeth, PA/Elizabeth Forward) and an attack error by the Panthers.
Pitt-Bradford turned in its best performance of the night in set two. The Panthers hit .314 and registered 15 kills to even the match at 1-all.
Frye, who registered six kills in the second set, tallied the same amount in the third to get the Lions back on track. With a 20-14 advantage, Frye knocked down three kills out of the next five points for a 25-15 win and 2-1 edge in the match.
With a commanding 12-5 lead in the fourth set, Pitt-Bradford used an 11-4 run to knot the game at 16. Bean and Paige Scurpa (Sharpsville, PA/Sharpsville) sandwiched a kill between a Maddie Auld (Peters Township, PA/Peters Township) ace for a 20-16 lead. Two more kills by Scurpa and one more by Frye, followed by a final ace from Saunders ended the match at 25-19.
Scurpa and Auld finished with 16 digs apiece and Kylie McSwaney (Greensburg, PA/Greensburg Salem) tallied four blocks.
Behrend returns to action on Saturday against La Roche. Match begins at 1 p.m.
