by Casey Burinskas

ALTOONA, Pa. – On Tuesday night, the Penn State Altoona women's volleyball team was back at home in the Adler Arena to take on Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent La Roche University.

Penn State Altoona (16-11, 7-1 AMCC) concluded its regular season schedule with a sweep, defeating La Roche (11-9, 3-4 AMCC) in three sets by scores of 25-21, 25-13, and 25-22.

Ella Hadley (Spring Mills, PA/Penns Valley) ended the night with a total of six kills, landed three service aces, and had 12 digs for Altoona. Maggie Brewer (NuMine, PA/West Shamokin) had a total of nine kills, holding the team-high on the night for the Lions.

Makenna Port (Bellefonte, PA/Bellefonte) and Lia Simanski (Altoona, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle) both held seven kills, with Simanski also putting in 10 digs.

Julia Emel (Woodward, PA/Penns Valley) had 19 assists, and Madelyn Rockwell (Tyrone, PA/Tyrone) added 10 assists while leading Altoona with a match-high total of five service aces.

Anna Batrus (Altoona, PA/Altoona) held the match-high in digs with 19.

In the first set, the Lions came out strong, placing five points on the board in a row. Hadley landed a kill and the first ace of the night, and Brewer came on with two kills for Altoona. Now leading by three, Simanski put a kill on the board, her first of the night. Coming further into the set, the score was tied 15-15, but Altoona responded by putting kills on the board from Brewer and Taylor Myers (Morrisdale, PA/West Branch) to help them gain a lead of 18-15. Leading down to the end of the first game, a service ace from Rockwell and kill from Port helped the Lions close out the set by a score of 25-21.

Entering the second set, Altoona once again came into the game ready to place points on the board quickly. Starting with an early run, the Lions were able to pull out two kills from Brewer and Myers. Rockwell served up two aces in a row to help the Lions add to their lead, making it 11-4. Further into set two, errors coming from the La Roche side and kills falling in from Hadley got Altoona closer to the win. Two Simanski kills and three attack errors from La Roche closed out the second set, as the Lions won it 25-13.

Starting the third and ultimately final set, Altoona shut out La Roche over the first five points, when a total of four kills fell in from Simanski, Myers, and Brewer, and a service ace came from Hadley. A kill from Port and a service ace from Rockwell got the Lions to double digits, up 10-3. With a comeback from La Roche, the score became tied at 15-15. Altoona responded with a kill from Price, while also forcing several attack errors from La Roche. With the score at 22-22, Altoona used a service error, a kill from Hadley, and a service ace from Batrus to end the match for the Lions with a win of 25-22 in the third set.

Now, with its regular season finished, Penn State Altoona women's volleyball will wait for the rest of the conference to play out their schedules before the announcement of the seeding and location for the upcoming AMCC Tournament.