McKeesport, PA. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Volleyball Team (3-9, 2-3) will travel to Lamont Furnace, PA. to take part in the PSU-Fayette tournament over the weekend. With four games against Penn State University Athletic Conference opponents, it will give PSUGA a chance to fight for positioning as they move towards trying to earn a PSUAC playoff spot. Day one will see PSUGA take on two opponents going against PSU-Hazleton (8-4, 5-1) at 5:30 p.m. and PSU-Schuylkill (3-8, 3-2) at 7 p.m.
PSUGA is coming off of a loss their last time out 3-0 to non-conference opponent Carlow on Wednesday. Alix Ellis (Derry, PA./Derry Area HS) led the way with five kills while sophomore Kaylee Holtzman (McKeesport, PA./McKeesport HS) followed her up with four kills. The girls dropped the three sets by scores of 25-16, 25-16, and 25-5.
However, they did gain momentum in conference play when they defeated PSU-New Kensington on Tuesday 3-1. PSUGA grabbed the momentum right from the beginning of the match with convincing set wins of 25-18 and 25-19 before closing out the match two sets later with another 25-18 win. After playing from behind a majority of the season, Tuesday saw the team get out to a lead and hold on the entire game giving them confidence as they move on in the conference.
After the conference shakeup this season that saw the PSUAC split into the east and west divisions, this will be the first time this season that PSUGA is taking on a team from the PSUAC East. It will be no easy task for PSUGA as they start the tournament off with a team in PSU-Hazleton that has won each of it’s last five conference games dating back to September 16th.
Hazleton also suffered a non-conference loss their last time out falling to Davis College 3-1. Hazleton split the first two sets with Davis dropping the first one 25-23 and coming back for a 25-16 win in the second set. However, Davis would take control from their picking up set wins of 25-22 and 26-24 to close out the match. Samaya Hornsby led Hazleton with eight kills on 35 total attacks in the loss.
Schuylkill hasn’t seen as much success as Hazleton this season, but is still on the up swing having won each of their last two conference games. They fought hard in non-conference action on Wednesday against Washington Adventist, but fell short in the end dropping the game 3-2. After taking a 2-1 advantage in the match WAU came back and took the final two sets winning the match.
The all-time matchup between PSUGA and Hazleton has been pretty even with Hazleton having a slight 4-3 advantage over PSUGA. PSUGA got the better if Hazleton last season getting a 3-0 sweep as part of their midseason six game winning streak. All three set wins were dominating wins for PSUGA scoring 25-9, 25-7, and 25-6 in the win.
Against PSU-Schuylkill, the numbers are even better for PSUGA with a record of 5-1 all-time. PSUGA picked up the win in their last meeting 3-1. PSUGA dropped the first set in that game before coming back to win each of the final three sets and secure the victory.
Tip-off for game one of the day for PSUGA is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in the main gym on the campus of Penn State Fayette. After a brief break, PSUGA will tip-off for their second game of the day against PSU-Schuylkill at 7 p.m.
