McKeesport, Pa. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Volleyball Team (1-6, 0-3) is looking to turn things around as they take part in a tri-match on Saturday where they will take on two Penn State University Athletic Conference foes in Penn State Brandywine (9-2, 3-0) and Penn State Schuylkill (3-4, 2-1).
Last time out, PSUGA competed early but eventually fell to PSU-New Kensington three sets to one. The first two sets of the match were highly competitive as New Kensington won the first set 26-24 and PSUGA came out on top in the second set 27-25. However, it would be Penn State New Kensington that would run away with this one in the end as they won the final two sets by scores of 25-12 and 25-20 to claim their second victory of the season.
Laura Vazquez Diaz (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Cupey Maria Montessori) and Kaylee Holtzman (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) lead the offensive attack once again each picking up six total attacks on the day. However, too many ball handling errors are what sank PSUGA in the final two sets and they fell for only the third time since the 2011/12 season to PSU-New Kensington.
Now they will look to put that match behind them and come back ready to fight as they have two grueling games on Saturday against top PSUAC competitors. Their first match at 2 p.m. pits them against PSU-Brandywine and their second match at 4 p.m. will see them face PSU-Schuylkill.
PSU-Brandywine and PSU-Schuylkill faced off against each other last time out and things went Brandywine’s way as they picked up a clean sweep winning the match three sets to nothing. PSU-Brandywine Senior Becca Civera lead the offensive attack collecting 14 total attack opportunities and bringing down seven kills. Nikki Poisant complemented that with 10 total attacks and a team leading eight kills. PSU-Schuylkill could not get much offense going in the contest but Noel Hauffman lead her team with seven total attacks and four kills.
PSU-Brandywine is coming into the contest riding high as they have won their last three contests including a clean sweep of their last nine sets. PSU-Schuylkill has also found a way to turn things around as after dropping their first three contests, they have come back and won three of their last four to better their positioning in the PSUAC Standings.
The overall series between PSUGA and these two teams looks very different depending on the opponent. PSUGA has dominated the series against PSU-Schuylkill only losing one game since the 2011/12 season with a record of 5-1 in those match-ups. However, in that same time period they have never beaten PSU-Brandywine going 0-8 over the six year span.
The action begins at 2 p.m. for PSUGA when they take on PSU-Brandywine and continues at 4 p.m. when they face off against PSU-Schuylkill.
