McKeesport, PA. – Life has been good for the Penn State Greater Allegheny Volleyball team (13-7, 6-2) as of late, having won their last 10 straight games. They will put that streak on the line when they go on the road to face Carlow in a non-conference match on Tuesday at 7 p.m. PSUGA pulled into a tie for the #2 seed in the Penn State University Athletic Conference West Division after defeating PSU-Mont Alto their last time out 3-0.
Right from the start, PSUGA showed they were ready to play going back and forth with PSU-Mont Alto throughout the first set. They would go on an 7-1 run that got them in from 12-6 and never looked back on their way to a 25-22 set one win. Set two started with PSU-Mont Alto scoring the first four points of the set before PSUGA rallied to tie the game and eventually go ahead 2-0 with another 25-22 set win.
The third set went to a win-by-two scenario after PSU-Mont Alto tied the set at 24-24, but PSUGA held on with a kill by Sueriah Timsah (Mesquite, TX./West Mesquite HS) and Kaylee Holtzman (McKeesport, PA./McKeesport HS) forcing a bad set by Mont Alto as PSUGA picked up the 26-24 set three win completing the sweep.
It was a big day for PSUGA sophomore Juliana Brill (Mount Jackson, VA./Stonewall Jackson HS) who finished the day with 14 digs, giving her 250 on the season. That helped her break the single-season digs record at PSUGA that had stood since the 2014 season. Brill currently ranks fourth all-time in PSUGA history with 399 digs in her career.
PSUGA and PSU-Mont Alto were tied for the top spot in the PSUAC West Division after Saturday’s game but another PSU-Fayette win against PSU-DuBois knocked the two teams down to the #2 seed. With five games remaining in conference play, PSUGA could clinch a playoff spot with a win on Saturday against PSU-DuBois.
First, they will have to take on a Carlow Celtics team who they have already seen twice this season. The Celtics enter Tuesday’s match-up on the down swing having lost their last six games and their last nine sets total. Their latest loss came at the hands of Brescia University where they fell 3-0.
Previous Match-ups
In eight previous match-ups with Carlow, PSUGA has a record of 0-8, including two losses this season. Their last game came on September 9th when PSUGA fell 3-1 after taking the first set from the Celtics. Alix Ellis (Derry, PA./Derry Area HS) led the way with 25 kills and fell just one short of the PSUGA single-game record.
Tip-off for Tuesday night’s game is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Carlow University Gym located on the main campus.