MEADVILLE, Pa. – Allegheny College volleyball seniors
Taylor Samuel and
Julia Weeks each collected double-doubles as the Gators knocked off Marymount in four sets this evening from the David V. Wise Center.
Samuel and Weeks each tallied a team-high 10 kills for Allegheny (7-4, 0-0 NCAC), who dropped its first set in a victory this season. Prior to tonight's win, the Gators had won all six of their matches in straight sets.
Sophomore setter
Justine Kelly came close to joining her veteran outside hitters in the double-double club, falling just a dig shy. Kelly dished out 34 assists on the evening and exploited the Marymount (9-3, 0-0 CAC) defense with six kills.
Kelly's classmates
Terra Schall and
Kylee Karczewski tied for the team-high in digs with 17 apiece. Middle hitters
Leah Franzluebbers (two solo, two assist) and
Sarah Swartz (four assist) each blocked four attacks in the contest.
Allegheny opened the match with a 25-23 victory in the first set. Samuel and Weeks combined for seven kills to lead the Gators, while Swartz tallied three of her four block assists in the frame.
Out of sorts from dropping the first stanza, Marymount committed 15 attack errors in the second frame to give Allegheny a 25-14 win. The Saints hit at a negative .128 clip in the set, letting the Gators need just five kills and a service ace to go up 2-0 in the match.
The Saints rebounded in the third set however, taking it by a score of 25-23. Marymount slowed the Allegheny attack at the net with four blocks as Samuel and Swartz were the only Gators with more than one kill in the frame.
Allegheny clinched the victory with a 25-21 win in the fourth stanza. Only five Gators registered kills in the set, but each of them (
Morgan Bush, Franzluebbers, Kelly, Samuel, Weeks) tallied at least three apiece. The hosts hit .342 for the set, with Kelly connecting on all three of her swings and Franzluebbers finding the floor three out of five times.
Allegheny jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in the closing frame behind two Saints mishits and a solo block from Franzluebbers. After a service error from freshman
Rachel Slotterback, the teams traded points until a two-point swing cut the Gator advantage to one at 8-7. Kelly responded with a kill, but Marymount rallied with three straight points to take the lead.
That lead wouldn't last long as Bush and Weeks notched back-to-back kills to put Allegheny back in front at 11-10. The Saints answered with a two-point rally of their own to regain the advantage, sparking a sequence that saw the teams swap 10 consecutive points.
A service ace from Christine Tieman gave Marymount an 18-16 lead, but the Gators would fight back by rattling off three straight points off of swings from Bush and Samuel. The Saints halted the rally with a two-point swing to make it 20-19 in favor of the visitors, but an attack error on the ensuing rally tied it up once more and forced a timeout from Marymount.
The break didn't seem to faze Allegheny as kills from Franzluebbers and Weeks gave the Gators a two-point lead. A service error from Slotterback made it a one-point game again, but back-to-back attack errors set the hosts up with match point. Marymount tried once more to settle its team down with a timeout; however, Franzluebbers stymied an attack on Morgan McAlpin at the net to give Allegheny its seventh win of the campaign.
Allegheny is back in action tomorrow afternoon with matches against Lycoming and Thiel. The Gators will look for revenge at 11:00 a.m. against a Warriors team that beat them last weekend, while the match against the Tomcats is tentatively scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. start time.
