BEHREND, MOUNT ALOYSIUS ADVANCE TO WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL SEMIFINALS
No. 3 Penn State Behrend and No. 4 Mount Aloysius College each earned First Round victories in the AMCC Women's Volleyball Tournament to advance to the conference semifinals, to be played this Saturday at top seed Alfred State College.
Penn State Behrend d. La Roche, 3-0
The No. 3 Penn State Behrend women's volleyball team swept No. 6 La Roche 3-0 in the first round of the AMCC Championships on Wednesday night. The Behrend Lions used identical scores of 25-20 in each set to advance to the AMCC Semifinals on Saturday against No. 2 Penn State Altoona. The Lions registered 14 kills in the first set and held the Redhawks to just six kills for the 1-0 lead in the match. Behrend faced an early deficit at 6-3 but Sara Nobach put the Lions ahead at 8-6 with six straight serves and two aces. Two attack errors and a kill from Cadence Jones and Brynne Smith sealed the first-set victory. Behrend never trailed in the second, taking a commanding 9-1 lead to start. Jones led with seven of the teams 12 kills while getting a pair of aces to help the Lions to a 2-0 lead. The third set was similar to the first with La Roche grabbing the lead on two occasions and tying the score on five. Nobach's serves broke a 9-all tie for a 14-9 lead. The Redhawks got within one at 20-19, however, Behrend won the next five out of six points thanks to an ace from Jones and a pair of kills from Alani Salas-Garcia.
Jones cranked out her 13th double-double with a match-high 16 kills and 13 digs, while Smith dished out 33 assists, and Salas-Garcia added eight kills and nine digs. Sydney Petko had a match-high four aces and Hannah Smith hit .400 on seven kills
With the win, Behrend will battle No. 2 Penn State Altoona at Alfred State College on Saturday. Match time is 4:30 p.m.
Mount Aloysius 3, Hilbert 0
No. 4 Mount Aloysius extended their 2024 season with a First Round victory over the No. 5 Hilbert Hawks, 25-19, 25-17, 25-22. The Hawks held a lead late in the third set to try and hang on, but the Mounties stormed back to capture the match victory and advance to the Final Four AMCC championship weekend. Junior OH Molly Richards led the Mounties with a double-double, recording 14 kills and 15 digs on the night. Madison Barr led her team with 17 digs, whily Reghyn Wilson's 19 assists were tops for the Mounties.
The Mounties will now face top seed Alfred State College on Saturday at 2:00pm in the AMCC Semifinals.