MEADVILLE, Pa. – The Allegheny volleyball team continued Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play Wednesday (Sept. 24) at home against Grove City, falling to the visitors in five sets.
The Wolverines won the sets 11-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-23, 15-13.
The Gators got out to a hot start, winning the first seven points of the match. The early start led Allegheny the rest of the way as their lead reached as much as 14 points before they took the set 25-11.
The teams went back-and-forth early in the second set, finding themselves tied at 12. Allegheny then went on a 5-1 run as the Wolverines called a timeout trailing 17-13. Grove City battled back with a run to bring the game within a point, 21-20. The Gators earned a set point at 24-20. The Wolverines fought off three set points before a kill by
Sydney Kirk (Pittsburgh, Pa./Seton LaSalle Catholic) ended the set.
Grove City jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the third set. After another run grew the lead to 11-6, the Gators called a timeout. Following the timeout, the Gators pulled within two, 14-12. After a couple Wolverine points, Allegheny once again pulled within a couple points, 18-16, as Grove City called timeout. An ace by
Jacy Diaz (Barranquitas, Puerto Rico/Gallatin (Tenn.)) after the timeout made it a one-point game. Allegheny would eventually tie the game at 20 before taking the lead on a pair of back-to-back
Reilly Mendez (Los Gatos, Calif./Los Gatos) kills. The back-and-forth nature of the set continued as the Wolverines scored three straight points to regain the lead. After the final timeout, the Wolverines wrapped up the set 25-22.
The fourth set had an even start before the Wolverines went on a 4-0 run to take a 12-8 lead. Allegheny answered with their own 4-0 run to tie it up. The teams continued to trade the advantage. Knotted at 19, the Wolverines won three straight points to take the lead. Grove City had the first set point at 24-20. The Gators staved off three of them before the Wolverines captured the set, 25-23.
Similar to the fourth set, the teams matched each other early on before the Wolverines gained the advantage, 8-5. The Gators fought back as three kills by Kirk made it a one-point game, 11-10. Following a Grove City timeout, Kirk and
Carly Beers (Warren, Pa./Warren) combined for a block to tie it. However, the Wolverines won three of the next four sets to earn a match point.
Skyler Fatola (Queen Creek, Ariz./Eastmark) stopped the first one with a kill, but a service error gave the Wolverines the final point as the Gators fell 15-13.
Inside the Box
- Amaya Brooks (North Olmsted, Ohio/Lutheran West) led the team with 13 kills, assisting on three blocks.
- Fatola and Kirk each had 10 kills, five block assists and one solo block.
- Mendez had five kills and three block assists while Beers had four kills and three block assists.
- Izzy Gray (Erie, Pa./Harbor Creek) finished with 24 assists. Joanna Miller (Pittsburgh, Pa./Gateway) had 13 assists. Each had eight digs.
- Diaz tallied 30 digs and four aces.
- Duru Akbas (Ankara, Turkey/Layton Christian Academy (Utah)) and Carlee Pepperman (Bellefonte, Pa./Bellefonte Area) each had 18 digs.
News and Notes
- Allegheny is now 29-17 all-time against Grove City.
Up Next
The Gators are on the road Saturday (Sept. 24) at Franciscan.
