MERTZTOWN, Pa. – Searching for back-to-back Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division home victories, and a regular season sweep of Shippensburg, Kutztown women's volleyball was unable to answer the bell as it dropped the match Saturday night in four sets at Brandywine Heights Area High School.
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Scores of the match were 23-25, 25-22, 19-25, 18-25. The Golden Bears are now 20-7 overall and 8-3 in the PSAC East. They are currently one-half game back from first place.
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It was another fast-paced, exciting, four-set match at Brandywine as the Maroon and Gold came out on top of one Friday night over Lock Haven. Unfortunately the following night, they just didn't seem to have the same energy, where as the Raiders (16-8, 6-4) played with intensity on the road. They held the advantage in kills (63-54) and blocks (13-9). What helped them the most was that they didn't hurt themselves as they finished with just 17 errors compared to 25 for Kutztown.
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Madilyn Bogovic (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cedar Cliff) led the way with season-highs in kills (19) and digs (20), while adding two blocks and two service aces.
Paige Skinner (Placerville, Calif./Ponderosa) also finished with a double-double with 16 kills and 11 digs, along with five aces.
Grace White (Pennsburg, Pa./Quakertown) also had double figures in kills with 10 and added five digs and two assists.
Jaedyn Bartholomew (Schuylkill Haven, Pa./Blue Mountain) tallied four kills, three digs and three blocks.
Abby Polo (Coventry, Conn./Coventry) recorded 28 assists, two kills, two blocks and two digs.
Emma Baldridge (Damascus, Md./Damascus) totaled 17 assists and five digs.
Saige Thibodeaux (Cape Coral, Fla./Ida S. Baker) contributed a season-best 30 digs and had four assists and
Julia Riley (Secane, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) had eight digs.
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Kutztown has its final home regular season matches next weekend, and they are important ones. KU hosts East Stroudsburg next Friday, Oct. 30, at 6:30 p.m., and then welcomes Shepherd to town the next day on senior day, at 4 p.m. Both teams are neck-and-neck with the Golden Bears atop the PSAC East standings, but both hold the tiebreaker currently as each team swept KU in their first meetings.
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