McKeesport, PA. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Volleyball Team (2-6, 1-1) took a tough loss on Wednesday falling to the top team in the Penn State University Athletic Conference West Division in Penn State DuBois (6-3, 3-1) 3-0. PSUGA fought hard throughout, but once again fell just short falling to 1-1 in conference play.
It was an exciting start to the night as both teams showed why they are the top contenders in the West Division battling to extra points. After going back and forth throughout the set it was PSU-DuBois who would get the early advantage with a 29-27 first set win taking a 1-0 lead in the match.
DuBois would keep coming on strong in the second set jumping out to a 16-10 lead thanks to a strong offensive attack by Keara Shrefler. PSUGA could only score five of the final 14 points in the set falling 25-15 and finding themselves in a 2-0 hole. PSUGA would try to stay alive in the third set and once again fell behind 16-9 before calling a timeout to try and regroup so they could find their offense.
Alix Ellis (Derry, PA./Derry Area HS) picked up three straight service aces to help her team get to within four points, but PSU-DuBois came back strong and took the final set scoring 9 of the final 11 points for a 25-14 set win and the sweep of the match. It was the fourth time PSUGA has been swept this season through the first eight contests.
Ellis led the offensive attack with 10 kills on 28 total attack opportunities while picking up two digs and two service aces. Sueriah Timsah (Mesquite, TX./West Mesquite HS) added six kills on 25 total attacks and Kimmy Tinker (Ewing, IL./Benton Consolidated HS) led the defense with a team leading 12 digs.
With the loss, PSUGA now evens their conference record at 1-1 and falls to 2-6 on the season. With a string of four PSUAC games in seven days, PSUGA has plenty of time to make up on loss ground in the early part of the season. With their new 110% mentality in 2018, they will bounce back and be ready to go for their next game.
PSUGA returns to the court on Saturday when they travel to Penn State Beaver for a 2 p.m. tip-off. The ladies will return home the next day to take on PSU-Fayette at 2 p.m.
