BUFFALO, N.Y. – Kutztown women's volleyball was able to leave Buffalo, N.Y., with some much-deserved positive momentum, rallying from down two sets to winning the match in five against Assumption in its second match of the day Saturday and third overall this weekend at the D'Youville University Tournament.
The Golden Bears (4-5 overall) defeated the Greyhounds by scores of 19-25, 20-25, 25-15, 25-19, 15-11. Earlier in the day, the Maroon and Gold fell to PSAC foe Slippery Rock in four sets, by scores of 23-25, 14-25, 25-23, 25-27.
Paige Skinner (Placerville, Calif./Ponderosa) finished with 48 kills on the day to lead the attack and also had 28 digs.
Madilyn Bogovic (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cedar Cliff) recorded 27 kills and added 30 digs.
Lauren Montgomery (Norristown, Pa./Mount Saint Joseph Academy) tallied 18 kills and eight blocks, while
Grace White (Pennsburg, Pa./Quakertown) contributed 15 kills and 11 blocks.
Emma Baldridge (Damascus, Md./Damascus) dished out 95 assists, 51 in the opener and 44 in the latter, the 51 a career-high.
Saige Thibodeaux (Cape Coral, Fla./Ida S. Baker) contributed 76 digs to lead the defensive effort, finishing with 45 against Rock, second-most in a match in program history.
Kutztown returns home for a non-conference, mid-week matchup with Georgian Court next Thursday, Sept. 25, at 6 p.m., from Keystone Arena. KU will then compete in a tri-match at Goldey-Beacom in Wilmington, Del., that Saturday, when it will take on the host Lightning and Lincoln.
Slippery Rock 3, Kutztown 1
Just like on the football field, Kutztown and Rock held a competitive match on the volleyball court. Every set, outside of set two, was decided by just two points.
In the opening set, KU held early leads of 3-2, 4-3 and 5-3 before SRU went on a 6-0 run to grab the lead back for good. A kill by Bogovic tied the score late at 23-23, but Rock answered with back-to-back points to end the set.
Slippery Rock was in control of the second set, taking a 1-1 tie into a 13-3 advantage and never looked back.
The Golden Bears responded and got themselves back into the match with a set three victory. Trailing 12-6 midway through, it looked bleak for a win, but this KU team is resilient and put together a 6-0 spurt to tie the score, highlighted by three consecutive kills by Skinner, one from
Alex Haskins (State College, Pa./State College) and a service ace by
Emma Stalsitz (Allentown, Pa./Parkland). Rock would then go on their own run, recording five points in-a-row to go on top 17-12, but the Maroon and Gold scored six straight, with two kills from Skinner and one each by
Grace White (Pennsburg, Pa./Quakertown) and Montgomery, along with a service ace by Baldridge, as KU took its first lead (18-17) since the score was 2-1.
SRU went back ahead 21-19 before Kutztown stormed back once again to tie the score at 23-23. A Haskins kill and SRU attack error finished off the set for KU.
The Rock never trailed in set three. When the score was tied consecutively at 23-23 and 24-24, SRU tallied the next point to stay ahead. Back-to-back kills then gave Slippery Rock the match win.
Kutztown 3, Assumption 2
Kutztown was looking for something positive to take back home on its six-hour drive, and it got just that with a five-set thriller where it had to face adversity and overcome a 2-0 deficit to win three straight sets.
In the opening set, KU fell behind 1-0 but scored four straight to take an early lead. Assumption responded with a run of its own and found itself ahead 15-13 midway through. Each team would then go on their own separate 3-0 runs as the Greyhounds led 18-16. KU recorded the ensuing point on a Bogovic kill, but would not get any closer than one the rest of the way as Assumption scored seven of the last nine points.
Set two started the same way as the Golden Bears jumped out in front early with a 5-1 lead and then it extended to 9-4 after back-to-back kills by Bogovic and a Greyhounds attack error. Assumption rallied and tied it at 11-all before taking a 14-12 advantage. KU responded with three straight points to take the lead back on a Greyhounds service error and two consecutive kills by Skinner to take the score to 15-14. From that point, however, Assumption scored 11 of the final 16 points to win it.
The first 22 combined points of set three were back and forth with multiple ties and lead changes. With an 11-11 tie set, Kutztown took control scoring five in-a-row and eight-of-nine to get into the win column in the match.
Set four saw Kutztown respond from dropping the first set to rallying for seven straight and leading the rest of the way, going up by as many as eight, three different times, and never leading by less than two.
It was a similar start in the fifth and final set that allowed the Maroon and Gold to close it out. They lost the opening point, but went on a 6-0 run following. They were ahead 8-7 before three consecutive points, on an Assumption service error, ace by
Mallory Hoch (Zionsville, Pa./Southern Lehigh) and kill from Bogovic, pushed the lead to four. But the Greyhounds rallied again to tie the score 11-11 before Bogovic and Skinner combined for a kill each with the former adding a service ace and Assumption being called for a set error as Kutztown scored the final four points to walk off the court winners.
