McKeesport, PA. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Volleyball team (2-6, 1-1) came into Monday night’s game looking to gain some momentum against NAIA powerhouse Point Park (9-1, 0-0). They battled throughout the night but were never able to overtake the Pioneers falling 3-0 (25-11, 25-14, 25-17).
The night started with Point Park taking the early advantage in set one scoring the first five points of the set. PSUGA responded scoring the next four points and made the score 5-4 in the early going. PSUGA would continue to battle throughout the first set keeping the score at 14-10 halfway through the first set. However, Point Park would go on a seven-point run that made the score 21-10 and PSUGA ended up dropping the set 25-11.
Point Park was back at it again taking control of the second set by scoring seven of the first ten points of the night. Once again, PSUGA fought to get the score back to within three points, but once again Point Park pulled away and scored a 25-14 second set victory. The third set had the teams battling to an 11-11 score halfway through the set before Point Park finished off the victory scoring 14 of the final 19 points and finishing the sweep with a 25-17 win.
Alix Ellis (Derry, PA./Derry Area HS) continued her strong offensive performance in her sophomore year registering 11 kills on 26 total attack opportunities and providing 10 digs on the defensive side of the ball. Juliana Brill (Mount Jackson, VA./Stonewall Jackson HS) led the defense with 13 digs while Andrea Ghiloni (Granville, OH./Granville HS) and Nicole Caballero (Miami, FL./Florida Christian School) split the assists with 12 and 10 respectively.
Sophomore Sueriah Timsah (Mesquite, TX./West Mesquite HS) played a great game as well despite not showing big numbers in the box score. Timsah was all over the court and made several key saves that started volleys for PSUGA. She is serving as a team captain in her sophomore season and has taken the leadership role in stride performing on both sides of the ball.
Despite the slip-up PSUGA still sits at 1-1 in Penn State University Athletic Conference play which is good for fourth place in the PSUAC West Division. With the top four spots claiming playoff berths, PSUGA will try to keep winning in conference play to claim their first trip to the playoffs since the 2014 season.
PSUGA volleyball gets back to conference play when they go on the road to face PSU-DuBois on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
