Lady Lions Hand Mount Aloysius First AMCC Loss
ALTOONA, Pa. – Penn State Altoona women's volleyball pulled off an impressive 3-0 sweep of their nearby Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference rivals, Mount Aloysius College, on Tuesday night in the Adler Auxiliary Gym.
The Lady Lions (6-8, 2-1 AMCC) limited mistakes and played with consistency to hand Mount Aloysius (13-6, 4-1 AMCC) its first conference loss of the season. Penn State Altoona prevailed in three sets by scores of 25-21, 26-24, and 25-16.
Penn State Altoona committed only 13 attack errors and three service errors while hitting at a .222 clip as a team.
Lydia Mock (Alum Bank, PA/Chestnut Ridge) led all players in the match with 15 kills, tied for the team-high in digs with 14, and added four assists, two service aces, and one block assist. Jenna Bauer (Ebensburg, PA/Central Cambria) posted 12 kills, nine digs, and one solo block while notching a team-best three aces.
Lauren Diller (Chambersburg, PA/Chambersburg) tied for the team lead in digs with 14 while also recording four kills and three block assists. Alexis Cannistraci (Tyrone, PA/Tyrone) also had four kills to go along with one block assist, and Sara Russo (Lebanon, PA/Cedar Crest) added three kills and three block assists.
Emily Bryan (Waynesboro, PA/Waynesboro) put up a team-leading 19 assists while chipping in five digs and two kills, and Kayla Moran (Boalsburg, PA/State College) added 13 assists and eight digs.
Lexie Dorcon (Berlin, PA/Berlin Brothersvalley) finished with six digs and a kill.
Mount Aloysius opened the match by establishing a 12-7 lead in the first set, but Penn State Altoona worked its way back and eventually tied the score 20-20 on a kill from Diller, then took a 21-20 lead following an error by the visitors. Leading 23-21, Penn State Altoona used another Mount Aloysius error and a kill from Bauer to finish things off.
The Lady Lions overcame another deficit in the second set to win. Mount Aloysius led 18-14 midway through the set, but Penn State Altoona again chipped away and eventually tied the score 20-20 on a Diller kill. The Lady Mounties reeled off the next three points, but kills by Mock and Bauer narrowed the score to 23-22 and prompted a timeout by the visitors. After the timeout, Mount Aloysius committed back-to-back errors to help Penn State Altoona to a 24-23 advantage. After a Penn State Altoona service error knotted the score 24-24, the Lady Lions got one point on a Mount Aloysius attack error and closed the set with a kill by Mock.
Penn State Altoona sailed to a big win in the third set, helped by the Lady Lions jumping out to a 19-6 lead. The home team ripped off an 8-0 run during that span, which included two kills by Cannistraci and two kills and a pair of aces from Bauer. Later, kills by Bryan and Cannistraci provided the final two points of the set for Penn State Altoona, sealing the three-set sweep.
Lady Lions volleyball will look to roll its momentum into another important AMCC match next Wednesday, October 16, when the team will travel to face La Roche University at 7:00 p.m.
