McKeesport, Pa. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Volleyball team (14-7, 6-2) enters Saturday’s game with a chance to clinch their first Penn State University Athletic Conference playoff spot in four years when they take on Penn State DuBois (11-10, 4-5) at 2 p.m. PSUGA enters the game having won a season-high 11 straight games riding a strong team defensive effort and a hard-hitting offensive display.
The defensive side of the ball stood out in the team’s 3-2 non-conference win over Carlow last time out, their first win against Carlow in program history. The defense set a new single-game team record combining for 131 digs in the five sets played. Sophomore Juliana Brill (Mount Jackson, VA./Stonewall Jackson HS) led the way with 35 digs while sophomore Andrea Ghiloni (Granville, OH./Granville HS) added 26 digs of her own in the win.
After falling behind 2-1 in the match, PSUGA fought back and picked up a crucial 25-22 win in set four that sent the game to sudden death. PSUGA would fight hard in that set and was able to walk away with a 15-11 set win and a 3-2 win of the match. The offense was led by sophomore Alix Ellis (Derry, PA./Derry Area HS) who led the way with 16 kills in the match, giving her 205 on the year.
PSUGA enters Saturday’s game sitting all alone in second place in the PSUAC West Division. A win on Saturday would guarantee themselves one of the four playoff spots in this year’s tournament and would begin their fight to host in the first round. If PSUGA can push their winning streak to 12, it would be their first time in the PSUAC Playoff tournament since the 2014 season.
However, PSU-DuBois won’t go down without a fight having won each of their last three games entering Saturday. They defeated PSU-New Kensington last time out 3-0 to move to 4-5 in PSUAC play. Allison Easton led the offense with 14 kills and reached a career milestone racking up her 500th kill in the win.
Previous Match-ups
In 19 previous match-ups with Penn State DuBois, PSUGA has a record of 14-5 including a win and a loss already this season. Their most recent game came on September 18th when PSUGA defeated DuBois 3-1. Sueriah Timsah (Mesquite, TX./West Mesquite HS) led the way in the game with 11 kills on 18 attempts while Brill had 15 digs in the win.
Tip-off for Saturday’s game is scheduled for 2 p.m. inside the Wunderley Gym. Doors open at 1 p.m. followed by tip-off an hour later.