Women's Volleyball Defeats La Roche in Five; Lions Fall to Pitt-Greensburg

ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend women's volleyball team split a pair of Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) matches on Saturday at the Junker Center.

The Lions (11-13, 2-4 AMCC) defeated La Roche 3-2 (19-25, 25-20, 19-25, 25-12, 15-13) in the nightcap, while falling to Pitt-Greensburg 3-0 (27-25, 25-21, 25-21) in the first match of the day.

Hannah Saunders (Elizabeth, PA/Elizabeth Forward) dished out 70 assists and Rachel Frye (Leechburg, PA/Kiski) led with 27 in two matches.

Against the Redhawks, Frye posted 17 kills, seven digs and four blocks in the five-set win. Four players had double-digit digs. Saunders registered the double-double with 36 assists and 16 digs.

Behrend fell in the first set, before tying the match at 1-all with a 25-20 win in the second. La Roche regained the lead in the third (25-19) and the Lions had the final say in the fourth and fifth set for their second conference win.

In the second set, Behrend had 10-5 spurt to pull away from La Roche 20-10. Paige Scurpa's (Sharpsville, PA/Sharpsville) kill gave the Lions set point and then she finished with an ace for a 25-20 win.

The Lions rebounded from a 25-19 loss in the third set with a commanding 25-12 win. In the decisive set, Kylie McSwaney (Greensburg, PA/Greensburg Salem) had four kills on seven attempts, including the final two kills to win the fifth set, 15-13.

In the opener against the Bobcats (6-17, 3-3 AMCC), Amanda Henry (Bridgeville, PA/South Fayette) paced Behrend with 14 kills including seven in the first set. The Lions battled back from a six-point deficit to knot the score at 24-all. Pitt-Greensburg got a kill from Autumn Karlheim and then Henry responded with her seventh kills, before the Bobcats tallied the next two points on kills for a 27-25 win.

Pitt-Greensburg never trailed in the first set and got three kills from Karlheim in its final four points, winning on a service error, 25-21. The Bobcats won by an identical score in the third to post their first-ever win over Behrend.

Saunders tallied 34 assists and Scurpa finished with 16 digs. Henry completed the double-double with 15 digs, while adding four aces and three assists.

The Lions return to action on Tuesday against Fredonia. Match time is 7 p.m.