by Christina Roukas

ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona women's volleyball team lost its final match of the regular season by a 3-2 decision (17-25, 25-22, 25-15, 20-25, 15-13) against Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Alfred State College on Saturday.

Alfred State (19-6, 7-0 AMCC) finishes the regular season with an undefeated record in the AMCC and will enter the upcoming conference postseason tournament as the number one seed. Meanwhile, Penn State Altoona (10-12, 4-3 AMCC) drops to the number five seed and will travel for a first-round AMCC Tournament match this upcoming Wednesday, November 2 against fourth-seeded Pitt-Bradford at 7:00 p.m.

In the first set of Saturday's match, Lydia Mock (Alum Bank, PA/Chestnut Ridge) scored a kill to trim an early deficit to 7-5. The Lions made a comeback, as Makenna Port (Bellefonte, PA/Bellefonte) scored a kill to tie the set at 8-8, and her solo block put Penn State Altoona up 10-8. Kayla Moran's (Boalsburg, PA/State College) ace broke a 12-12 tie, and a duo block from Taylor Myers (Morrisdale, PA/West Branch) and Morgan Fussell (Blairsville, GA/Union County) made it 14-12. Myers served an ace to put the Lions ahead 20-14, and an Alfred State attack error closed out the first set 25-17 in favor of Penn State Altoona.

In the second, Port's block tied the score at 6-6, and the score remained neck-and-neck throughout the set. Barnhart's tip gave the Lions the advantage, 11-9, but Alfred State came back to take the lead, 18-11. Fussell scored a kill to lower the deficit to four, 18-14, and back-to-back tips from Port cut the Alfred State lead to 23-22. But the Pioneers took the next two points and won the second set 25-22.

In the third set, Barnhart's kill put the Lions on the board after the first two points went to Alfred State. Myers' kill lowered a Lions' deficit to five, 15-10, and Moran's dump kept Altoona within six, 18-12. But Alfred State held a strong lead throughout the rest of the set, winning it 25-15.

In the fourth set, a kill and an ace from Barnhart gave the Lions an early lead, 3-1, followed by a block from Fussell and Port. Mock's kill extended Penn State Altoona's lead to six, 15-9, and Port's kill made it 20-16. The Lions went on to win the fourth set 25-20, tying the match score at two sets apiece.

The Lions started the fifth set with the lead, and after Alfred State came back to tie the score 7-7, Myers' kill put Penn State Altoona up by one. A duo block from Fussell and Port gave the Lions a 12-10 advantage, and Mock's kill kept the difference at two points, 13-11. However, Alfred State rallied to take a 14-13 lead, then used a kill to close out the set and the match.

Port led Penn State Altoona with a career-high 15 points and 12 kills to go along with two solo blocks and two block assists. Mock totaled 14 points on 12 kills and two service aces, and she also posted 15 digs. Barnhart recorded 13 points on 12 kills and an ace, while adding 13 digs.

Myers finished with 7.5 points on four kills, a team-high three aces, and a block assist, and Fussell contributed 6.5 points on four kills, three block assists, and one solo block.

Moran put up a team-best 38 assists and added six digs, four kills, and an ace.

Erin Lutz (State College, PA/State College) tallied a team-high 18 digs.