Lady Lions Fall 3-0 to La Roche
ALTOONA, Pa. – Penn State Altoona women's volleyball suffered a 3-0 loss on Wednesday night in the Adler Arena to Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent La Roche College.
La Roche (10-11, 3-2 AMCC) swept the match 25-17, 25-12, 25-19.
Emily Bryan (Waynesboro, PA/Waynesboro) totaled a match-high 21 digs for Penn State Altoona (4-16, 1-3 AMCC) while adding eight assists and six kills. Kelsey Bristol (Troy, PA/Troy) had a match-high 11 kills to go along with 12 digs.
Lauren Moran (Johnstown, PA/Westmont Hilltop) finished with a team-best 12 assists, and she added eight digs. Kaila Clawson (Altoona, PA/Altoona) posted 18 digs, and Nicole Kiser (Altoona, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle) totaled 12 digs.
Alexis Cannistraci (Tyrone, PA/Tyrone) recorded eight kills and swung at a team-high .333 clip. Paige Burk (Claysburg, PA/Claysburg-Kimmel) led all players in the match with two solo blocks.
Penn State Altoona was unable to overcome miscues on offense, committing 29 attack errors to La Roche's nine.
The Lady Lions kept things close in the first set before La Roche pulled away late. Bristol's service ace in the early going tied the score 5-5, and her kill later knotted the score 12-12. But La Roche finished the set on a 13-5 run to grab a 1-0 lead in the match.
In the second set, the Lady Redhawks staked out an early lead and maintained it throughout. La Roche started the set by getting out to an 11-4 advantage, en route to a 13-point set victory.
Penn State Altoona took a lead early in the third set, going up 7-5 with the help of kills by Bristol and Velanna Skipek (Moshannon, PA/Bald Eagle) and a block by Burk. Later, back-to-back kills from Skripek and Cannistraci kept the home team up by two points, 12-10. But La Roche reeled off a quick 4-0 run to grab the lead, and the visitors never looked back. After a Penn State Altoona timeout, the Lady Redhawks were able to outscore the Lady Lions 11-7 over the remainder of the set to close out the match.
Lady Lions volleyball returns to action this Saturday, October 13 for a pair of important AMCC matches. The team will travel to Pitt-Greensburg, the host of that day's competition, to play Hilbert College at 12:00 p.m. and D'Youville College at 2:00 p.m.
