Women's Volleyball Wins Twice; Lions Blank Misericordia, SUNY Canton

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend women's volleyball team swept a pair of non-conference matches, defeating Misericordia and SUNY Canton 3-0 on Friday night at the Lycoming Tournament.

The Lions (9-10) opened up with a 25-17, 25-14, 25-9 win over Misericordia, hitting .414 with 40 kills on 87 attempts and just four errors. The hot hitting continued into the second match, defeating SUNY Canton 25-19, 25-19 and 25-16. Behrend record a .416 hitting percentage, this time with 35 kills, three errors on 77 attempts.

In the first match, Kylie McSwaney (Greensburg, PA/Greensburg Salem) had a perfect hitting day recording 13 kills on 13 attempts with no errors. Hannah Saunders (Elizabeth, PA/Elizabeth Forward) added 29 assists, six kills, four digs, one block and one ace.

Behrend tallied a .481 hitting percentage in the first set with 13 kills on 27 attempts and no errors for a 25-17 victory. The Lions then registered 18 kills in the second set, including seven to start for a 10-4 lead. Behrend held a 10-point lead on two occasions with the later at 24-14 and winning on a Saunders kill at 25-14.

The Lions only allowed nine points by Misericordia in the third set (25-9) to sweep the first match.

Against SUNY Canton, Amanda Henry (Bridgeville, PA/South Fayette) led with nine kills, four digs and two aces. Saunders contributed 25 assists, six kills with no errors, four digs and two blocks. Rachel Frye (Leechburg, PA/Kiski) also added nine kills.

Behrend jumped out to an 11-3 lead in the first set, but SUNY Canton managed to pull within two at 12-10 thanks to a 7-1 run. That would be the closest they would get to the Lions. Behrend won the next five points and stayed out in front for a 25-19 win.

In a much closer second set, it was attack errors that helped the Lions take the lead in the middle of the match at 19-14 and then win the final three points of the set combined with an Alex Parra (Pittsburgh, PA/Bishop Canevin) kill for a 25-19 decision.

With a small 14-13 lead in the third set, Behrend closed out the match on a 11-3 run to win 25-16.

Madison Clapper (Hollidaysburg, PA/Hollidaysburg) combined for 18 digs on the day.

The Lions return to action tomorrow against Lycoming and Alfred State. Matches begin at 10 a.m.