Photo (by Joel Nelson): Penn State Altoona junior outside hitter Kelsey Bristol goes up for a swing during Saturday's AMCC Tournament match against La Roche College in the Adler Arena.
Photo (by Joel Nelson): Penn State Altoona junior outside hitter Kelsey Bristol goes up for a swing during Saturday's AMCC Tournament match against La Roche College in the Adler Arena.

Lady Lions Eliminated from AMCC Tournament With 3-1 Loss to La Roche

ALTOONA, Pa. - #4 La Roche College pulled an upset in Saturday afternoon's Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament semifinal at the Adler Arena, handing the #1 Penn State Altoona women's volleyball team a 3-1 loss.

With the result, Penn State Altoona (13-13, 7-2 AMCC) is eliminated from the AMCC Tournament. The Lady Lions will await word this week on a potential selection to compete in the Eastern College Athletic Conference's Division III Tournament.

Meanwhile, La Roche (13-17, 6-3 AMCC) earns a berth to the conference title match tomorrow, Sunday, November 5 at 1:00 p.m. in the Adler Arena. The Lady Redhawks will face the winner of today's #2 Pitt-Bradford and #3 Penn State Behrend match.

After Penn State Altoona won the opening set 25-22 on Saturday, La Roche took the next three sets by scores of 25-17, 25-22, and 25-20.

Lauren Diller (Chambersburg, PA/Chambersburg) led the Lady Lions in kills and digs, amassing 14 kills and 32 digs. Kelsey Bristol (Troy, PA/Troy) returned to the lineup from injury and finished with 13 kills and 20 digs. Josie Stovall (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra) added 11 kills and three solo blocks.

Lauren Moran (Johnstown, PA/Westmont Hilltop) put up a team-high 22 set assists to go along with 21 digs and two service aces. Emily Bryan (Waynesboro, PA/Waynesboro) added 15 assists and 12 digs. Nicole Kiser (Altoona, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle) posted 14 digs.

La Roche's Laura Nath gave her team a match-high 18 kills, 26 digs, and three total blocks, while Hannah Scott led all players on the day with 41 digs.

Penn State Altoona dug itself into an early hole in the first set, but the Lady Lions managed to claw out of it. After Erin Connor's ace gave La Roche a 15-7 lead, Penn State Altoona embarked on a 7-0 run to narrow the difference to one point. Stovall accounted for three of those points with two kills and one block. Moran's kill gave the Lady Lions their first lead of the set, 18-17, and kills from Bristol and Stovall helped Penn State Altoona seal a win to open the match.

But La Roche continued to play well, and it began to pay off in the second set. The Lady Redhawks opened the set with a 17-6 lead, en route to an eight-point win to even the match score at 1-1.

In the third set, Penn State Altoona staked out an 18-15 lead, but saw it slip away. Diller's kill gave the home team a three-point lead, but an attack error later in the set helped knot the score 22-22. The Lady Redhawks got the next three straight points courtesy of Penn State Altoona attack errors to grab a 2-1 lead in the match.

La Roche built an 18-13 lead in the fourth set before Penn State Altoona made a late push, getting three points from attack errors and another from Bryan's service ace to narrow the visitors' lead to 18-17. But Nath helped La Roche close out the match, getting a block to make it 23-19 before recording back-to-back kills to end the set.