WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Kutztown University women's volleyball team was on the wrong end of two five-set thrillers as the Golden Bears opened their 2016 campaign on Friday evening at Whitaker Gymnasium in day one of the Second Annual Spike Out Hunger Challenge. KU was on the wrong end of a five-set comeback against Mount Olive (27-25, 21-25, 24-26, 25-23, 15-13) in its season-opener before a comeback of its own fell short versus host Winston-Salem State in the nightcap (25-10, 25-21, 21-25, 21-25, 15-13).
 
Playing in her first career contests as a Golden Bear, Brittney Moyer (Orwigsburg, Pa./Blue Mountain (Lock Haven)), a sophomore transfer, surpassed or matched her previous career-highs of 14 kills and four aces in both matches, combining for 35 kills and 11 aces on the day. She had a match-high 17 kills on .316 hitting and seven aces in the nightcap and added 11 digs for a second consecutive double-double.
 
Playing 10 sets in the span of just under five hours, KU (0-2) looked like it would get its first win of the season when it scored three straight points to take a 13-12 lead over the hosts Winston-Salem State on Anna Conti (Grove City, Ohio/Grove City)'s service ace late in the fifth set. The Rams had other ideas though, as they came back with the final three points, the last two of which were kills by Jocelyn Mills, to avoid the Golden Bears' comeback attempt after taking the first two sets handedly.
 
The match never looked like it would get to that point as Winston-Salem (2-0) wasted no time in jumping on a Kutztown squad that had to recuperate from the first five-setter and immediately come back and play again less than an hour later. The Rams took five of the first seven points and would never look back as they cruised to a 25-10 triumph behind .476  hitting.
 
WSS came out even faster in the second, quickly establishing a 10-2 lead. Kutztown never really threatened until it looked to storm back late with four unanswered to finish off a 6-1 stretch and make it 24-21, but at that point it was too late and the Rams managed to hold on 25-21.
 
Trailing 8-3 and heading for a sweep, KU finally turned it on in the third as five successive points began a 13-5 rally that saw the Golden Bears leading 16-13. The two teams then both traded runs of four in a row before three consecutive points by -Salem created a 20-20 deadlock. With the match on the line, KU dug in an took five of the final six points, ending with a Moyer kill to send the match to set four.
 
The fourth stayed within three points until Kutztown finally took a 24-20 lead late in the set. That was part of a 10-4 surge that began with the Golden Bears trailing 15-17 and ended with a decisive fifth set looming after yet another Moyer kill. 
 
The comeback looked like it would fall short when Winston-Salem took the first four points of the fifth, but just as it did all evening, KU persevered and ended up coming back to tie it with the next four points. The Golden Bears would cap off an 8-2 run for a two-point advantage at 8-6 and would also lead at 10-9 on a Tori Wakelee (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East) kill before the Rams regained three straight points.
 
Seniors Wakelee (11 kills), Zandria Zielinski (York, Pa./York Catholic) (seven blocks) and Rachael Picozzi (Collegeville, Pa./Methacton) (three blocks) also all set career-highs in the nightcap, while Conti added a double-double of a team-high 34 assists and 10 digs. Madison Brake (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Bishop Hartley) joined Moyer in leading the Golden Bears with 11 digs, as she now sits just three digs back of moving into the top five in program history in the category.  
 
Winston-Salem, who outhit KU .206-.008, was led by Mia Herrod's 13 kills with Tenyia Shepherd and Mills adding 11 and 10, respectively. Christa Brown was a force at the net with 10 block assists and Jasmine Smith and Mikayla Lytton led the match with 40 assists and 18 digs, respectively.
 
The official season-opener did not disappoint either, as Kutztown engaged with Mount Olive in a back-and-forth five-set stalemate that ultimately saw the Trojans prevail in the five sets (25-27, 25-21, 24-26, 25-23, 15-13) that were each decided by four points or fewer.
 
Trailing 24-20 in the first, Kutztown stormed back with seven of the final eight points of the set. The Golden Bears first rallied off five points in a row, the first on a kill by Moyer, before four consecutive UMO errors gave KU its first set point at 25-24. The Trojans momentarily evened the score back up at 25, but a kill by Picozzi set the stage for a Moyer service ace to emphatically give Kutztown the early advantage.
 
After a comeback fell short in the second, the third set produced nearly an identical outcome. This time down 23-20, KU took six of the final seven points to go ahead two sets to one. A Jessica Howe (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg Area) kill and Moyer service ace gave the Golden Bears a first set point, and although they could not convert it, a Trojan error once again gave an opportunity for Brake to serve it out, and she did so by matching Picozzi's service ace in the first with one of her own.
 
Kutztown looked primed to clinch the match in the fourth, tallying seven unanswered, which included kills from Conti, Moyer, and Niki Carpenter (King of Prussia, Pa./Upper Merion Area), to go ahead 17-12 and force a Mount Olive timeout. The timeout proved effective as the Trojans responded with an 8-3 run for a 20-20 tie. The two teams traded the next four points before Zielinski put the Golden Bears up 23-22. That would be the last point KU would score though, with UMO forcing a decisive fifth with three straight kills, two of which were by Britni Johnson.
 
Mount Olive seemed to have ridden that momentum into the fifth set, jumping out to a 7-2 advantage, but KU was not going to go out easy. Moyer's back-to-back kills capped a 6-1 flurry and all of the sudden the match was even at 8-8. UMO would take the next three points though, and although the Golden Bears got within one three times, including saving one match point on Moyer's kill to make it 14-13, the Trojans finished off the comeback with a kill by Natalie Perez. 
 
Moyer's final kill gave her both a team-high and career-high 18 for the match. She added 10 digs for a double-double and also had a match-high four service aces, which matched yet another career-high.
 
Also with multiple career-highs was Picozzi, who registered five kills and three blocks.
 
Brake led the match with 19 digs and Howe was second on the team with 14 kills. Conti had a team-high 36 assists and Carpenter led Kutztown with five blocks as the Golden Bears held a 12-9 advantage at the net.
 
With 73 total team points in the setback, KU registered its second-highest output since the beginning of the 2015 season and the most in a loss since the 2014 season.
                                                                                                                   
Johnson led all players with 21 kills for Mount Olive (1-1), while Mi'Kayla Benson and Karley Pounds each had a match-high six blocks for the Trojans. Kamber Skeen paced the contest with 43 assists. 
   
After a difficult yet encouraging first day, KU will look for its first win of the new campaign tomorrow with two more matches on day two of the Annual Spike Out Hunger. First up is Lees-McRae at 9 a.m., followed by at 2 p.m. matchup against Chowan.