PSUAC Championship: Penn State Mont Alto 3, Penn State York 2 (25-19, 23-25, 22-25, 26-24, 15-5)
Penn State Mont Alto volleyball erased a 2-1 deficit on Tuesday evening in a PSUAC Championship rematch with Penn State York to take sets four and five on their way to a second consecutive conference championship. With the win, Mont Alto moves to 22-8 overall and a perfect 12-0 in conference play. The team punched their ticket to the USCAA Championship on November 9-11 by winning the PSUAC's automatic bid. The bid show for the USCAA National Championships will be today at 4:30pm.
Penn State Mont Alto seized early momentum in the first set by taking a 15-7 lead. Penn State York would take the next several points to pull within 15-13. With Mont Alto leading 24-19, Gracie Vaughn recorded a kill on a set from Kylie Denlinger to take the first set 25-19. Mont Alto recorded 17 kills on 46 attack attempts (.304) in the first set compared to Penn State York's .158 hitting percentage.
With Mont Alto leading 16-13 in the second set, Penn State York rallied to take the next six points and building a 19-16 advantage. Mont Alto would keep the set within one point at 23-22, but York took the next three points to even the score at one set each.
The third set was tight throughout with the score tied 22-22 late. Two Mont Alto attack errors and a Kyla Kolivoski service ace pushed Penn State York ahead two sets to one.
Penn State York took a commanding 7-1 lead in set four and had Mont Alto on the ropes. An attack error by York's Jessica Dunbar looked to swing momentum as Mont Alto won six of the next seven points, trailing 8-7. Mont Alto also trailed by as much as 15-8 midway through the fourth set and reeled off eight of the next ten points to take a 18-17 lead. York had Mont Alto at match point with the score 24-23 and Mont Alto blocked two York attacks and finished off the set with a Gracie Vaughn kill to force a fifth set.
Vaughn played her best in the fifth set, recording six of Mont Alto's eight kills in the set. Mont Alto left little doubt in the fifth set, hitting .438 compared to York's -.188.
Adversity was no stranger to Mont Alto during this playoff run, being challenged by Penn State Beaver and also trailing two sets to one against Hazleton on Monday evening.
Gracie Vaughn led all attackers with 20 kills on the evening. She also recorded nine blocking assists. Leslie Huckle (17) and Elizabeth Trella (15) rounded out the kills leaders for Mont Alto. Kylie Denlinger had 55 of the team's 57 assists. Brooke Denlinger (23), Gabby Baughman (19), Cadance Somau (14) and Ashlyn Vandenbree (14) led the team in digs.
Penn State York was led by Whitney Smyth who had 14 kills on 49 attacks. Jessica Dunbar recorded 13 kills on 66 attacks. Kyla Kolivoksi and Hannah Knight each had 24 assists. Jayda Simmons led the match with 43 digs. Makayla Dyson had seven block assists.
Up Next: USCAA National Championships at Penn State Fayette (Uniontown, PA) November 9-11, Times TBD
