Denison Box Score
Bethany Box Score

MEADVILLE, Pa. – The Allegheny women's volleyball team lost two matches, falling 3-0 to North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) rival Denison before dropping a tightly-contested, 3-1 decision to Bethany College of the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC).

Freshman middle hitter Sarah Swartz led the Gators (5-17 overall, 1-3 NCAC) with 20 kills over the two matches, as Junior setter Madie Hudac continued her climb up the Allegheny career assists list, recording 62 on Saturday. 

Hudac became the seventh leading setter in Allegheny history in the Gators' 3-0 win over Oberlin on Tuesday and currently stands at 2,322 career assists, closing in on the 2,454 recorded by Traci Stoner from 2004-05.

Hudac recorded a pair of double-doubles on Saturday, collecting 38 assists and 11 digs in the latter match against Bethany (20-4 overall, 9-1 PAC) after a 24 assist, 10 dig performance against Denison (15-7 overall, 3-2 NCAC).

The Gators fell down 7-0 to the Big Red in a 25-11 first set loss.  A two-point swing by Hudac in the second set pushed the Gators to within three at 18-15, but Denison scored eight of the next nine points, taking a 25-20 decision to hold a 2-0 advantage over the Gators. 

Freshman Julia Weeks led Allegheny on a three point run off the serve, leading to a 6-5 lead in the third but Denison was able to gain a 11-7 lead, holding back the Gators to win the third set and the match, 25-17.

Weeks finished the match with six kills and six digs.  Hudac led the team with 10 digs as freshman Taylor Sammuel recorded four kills off of eight attempts, hitting .375.

Against Bethany, the Gators were unable to make a late comeback in a 25-15 first set decision and found themselves down 2-0 after the Bison took the second set, 25-18.  Allegheny jumped to a 16-10 lead after the Gators recorded three consecutive kills, the first coming from sophomore outside hitter Alli Unger and the latter two from Weeks. 

The Bison used a late rush to close the cap, narrowing the Gators lead to 24-22 but Weeks was able to finish the set with a kill off of a set by Hudac, giving the Gators a 25-22 win in the third set.

In the fourth set, the Bison led 19-11 before Allegheny made a storming comeback to close the gap to 23-21.  With the serve in the hands of sophomore libero Catherine Kasianowicz, Allegheny was unable to complete its comeback as Bethany capitalized ended the game with a scalding kill that landed inches inside of play to take the fourth set, 25-23.

Three Gators registered double-digit kills Weeks led the team with 15.  Swartz and freshman defensive specialist Baylie Sheppard recorded 10 kills each.  Kasianowicz led the team with 30 digs, as Sheppard recorded 18.  In their third set win, the Gators recorded 16 kills to four errors to hit .255 as a team.

Allegheny will travel to Hiram for a 7 p.m. match on Wed., Oct. 10.