McKeesport, PA. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Volleyball Team (3-9, 2-3) fell in non-conference action against Carlow (6-8, 1-1) 3-0 on Wednesday. PSUGA fell behind early in the match and were never able to gain the momentum necessary to get back in it and pick up the win.
PSUGA battled Carlow early on in the first set as the two teams went back and forth to a 10-9 Carlow lead. However, the Celtics pulled away scoring nine of the next 13 points to take a 21-13 lead. PSUGA fought back scoring three of the final seven points, but it wasn’t enough as Carlow got the crucial first set win 25-16.
PSUGA fell behind early in set two as the Celtics scored the first five points on the match. PSUGA would battle back to make it a 10-8 Carlow lead, but once again the Celtics were able to pull away and won the second set by the same 25-16 score. The third set saw PSUGA fall behind 10-2 right at the start and they would only go on to score three of the final 18 points in the set suffering a 25-5 loss and falling in the match 3-0.
Alix Ellis (Derry, PA./Derry Area HS) led the offense with five kills on 22 total attacks while Kaylee Holtzman (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport HS) grabbed four kills on 12 total attacks. Juliana Brill (Mount Jackson, VA./Stonewall Jackson HS) had a great game on defense filling in for the injured Kimmy Tinker (Ewing, IL./Benton Consolidated HS) picking up a team high 11 digs and two service aces in the contest.
Despite the loss, PSUGA was able to face some tough competition as they continue to prepare for what they are going to see in conference play. After a big win against PSU-New Kensington on Monday, the PSUGA Volleyball team looks to learn from this non-conference loss and take it into their conference tournament coming up this weekend.
PSUGA starts the weekend off with two games on Saturday. Their first match features a matchup with PSU-Hazleton at 5:30 p.m. and they finish the day taking on PSU-Schuykill at 7 p.m. Both games will be played at Penn State Fayette as part of the Fayette Tournament.
