MERTZTOWN, Pa. – Kutztown women's volleyball completed the season sweep over West Chester with a straight set sweep Saturday afternoon in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division match at Brandywine Heights Area High School.
The Golden Bears (19-5 overall, 17-2 PSAC East) also won in three sets when they played on the Golden Rams' (9-13, 1-7) home court back on Oct. 3. Saturday's scores in favor of the Maroon and Gold were 25-17, 26-24, 27-25.
Before this season, KU has not beaten WCU in its last seven matches, with the last victory coming in five sets on Oct. 8, 2022. Kutztown had won just two matches in its last 24 against West Chester.
But this is a different Golden Bears team this season, that currently sits in a tie for second place in the East, one game behind first place Lock Haven, which they will see next weekend for the first of two regular season matches. The hosts used the home crowd to their advantage Saturday and they gave them energy when they needed it most, rallying in both the second and third sets, which both went into extra points.
Even in a sweep, the visitors gave the hosts all they could handle. The Golden Rams scored five of the first seven points in the opening set, before the Golden Bears recorded four unanswered points to take their first lead, with
Ellie White (Pennsburg, Pa./Quakertown) netting three consecutive service aces. They also answered deficits of 8-7 and 12-11 before
Grace White (Pennsburg, Pa./Quakertown) recorded back-to-back kills and WCU had an attack error that ended the first set.
Unlike in the opener, KU started fast, tallying the first five points and never trailed. The Golden Rams tied the score at 9-9, but Kutztown remained out front and was one point away leading 24-20 before West Chester rallied for four in-a-row. The Maroon and Gold were then aided by two straight errors to take the 2-0 lead. The third set was back-and-forth throughout. KU responded from down 19-17 to take a 20-19 advantage and then held on in the end and once again saw back-to-back
Grace White (Pennsburg, Pa./Quakertown) kills to finish off the match.
White led the way offensively with 11 kills and added three blocks.
Madilyn Bogovic (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cedar Cliff) recorded seven kills and eight digs.
Jaedyn Bartholomew (Schuylkill Haven, Pa./Blue Mountain) finished with a season-best nine kills and had two blocks.
Paige Skinner (Placerville, Calif./Ponderosa) tallied four kills and six digs and
Ellie White (Pennsburg, Pa./Quakertown) contributed three kills, three aces and four blocks.
Saige Thibodeaux (Cape Coral, Fla./Ida S. Baker) added 16 digs.
Emma Baldridge (Damascus, Md./Damascus) netted 14 assists and three digs, while
Abby Polo (Coventry, Conn./Coventry) had 12 assists and one dig.
Just like earlier this week, Kutztown will have a quick turnaround and compete on a Tuesday night as it travels to Holy Family for a non-conference match next Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m., before hosting back-to-back nights of PSAC volleyball against Lock Haven (Friday) and Shippensburg (Saturday).
