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KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University women's volleyball squad pulled out a tremendous team-performance Friday night on its home court, taking down the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division-leading Lock Haven University Bald Eagles by a score of 3-1. The Golden Bears executed a balanced attack and received a career-night from their setter.
 
Kutztown (11-13, 5-11 PSAC) earned a clutch victory over the top team in the division. KU claimed two hard-fought wins in the first two sets (25-22, 25-21), before falling in the third (25-22). The Golden Bears pushed out to an early lead in the fourth set and didn't look back, taking the set and match, 25-17.

"This was probably our most complete effort of the season," head coach John Gump said. "We played with a tremendous amount of energy and excuted our match plan almost flawlessly. The kids did exactly what we asked them to do."
 
Sophomore setter Anna Conti (Grove City, Ohio/Grove City) produced one of her best performances to date in the Maroon and Gold. Conti tallied a career-high 51 assists, making her the first Golden Bear to surpass the 50-assist mark in a match since 2007. Not only did she set up her teammates for points, she added three kills of her own on tricky fakes that caught the Lock Haven defense off guard. Conti added 11 digs and a block on the defensive side of the ball.

"We consider Lock Haven as one of our biggest rivals, so this was a really big game for us," Conti said. "I think we kept up our energy the whole time and made sure we put balls away on good passes."
 
Kutztown recorded 58 kills in the winning effort, its second highest output this season, which was commanded by four Golden Bears reaching double figures. Danielle Van Buren (Bethlehem, Pa./Saucon Valley) led the way with 15 kills, followed by Chelsea Braga (Long Beach, N.Y./Long Beach (Fairleigh Dickinson)) with 13, and the duo of Audrey Stringer (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) and Aly York (Douglassville, Pa./Daniel Boone) accounting for 11 apiece.
 
Zandria Zielinski (York, Pa./York Catholic) led the squad with five blocks and contributed five kills to the offense. Van Buren ranked second on the team with three blocks.
 
Braga recorded a team-high 21 digs, followed by Madison Brake (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Bishop Hartley) with 20, York with 16, and Emily Kopinski (Coopersburg, Pa./Southern Lehigh) with 12. Braga also notched a team-high three service aces, followed by Kopinski with two.
 
Lock Haven (15-9, 9-7) received 11 kills from Cody Anderson, along with nine from Sarah Gomish and seven from Toryn Quivers. Sydney Belcastro notched a game-high 27 digs.
 
Kutztown returns to action on its home court tomorrow, Oct. 25 at 1 p.m. The Maroon and Gold will square off against the defending-PSAC champions University of Pitt-Johnstown, who KU defeated 3-2 earlier on in the season.