Mont Alto Head Coach Randy Hood has his squad ready to go for the USCAA National Championships starting Thursday morning in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Their first tournament test will come against PSUAC Champion Penn State Greater Allegheny on Thursday at 11 a.m... They will also face King's College (NY) in the second pool play game Friday at 11 a.m. Mont Alto went into the PSUAC Playoffs riding a seven-game winning streak. Mont Alto upended Penn State Fayette in four sets in the quarterfinals, ending their run of two straight PSUAC titles. Their eight-game winning streak ended following a loss to Penn State Schuylkill in the semifinals. The nine-day layoff served the team well as they regrouped and are ready for the stretch run. Last Thursday, the group partook in a USCAA selection show watch party, in which they were informed they received the #3 seed in the tournament. Jubilation and emotion filled the room, especially for those seniors that got to see their season continue.
2021 USCAA Division II Volleyball Schedule
Pool A
1 UC Clermont
4 Paul Smith's College
5 Penn State DuBois
Pool B
2 Penn State Greater Allegheny
3 Penn State Mont Alto
6 The King's College
Thursday, November 11
Field House Court 8
9:00 UC Clermont-Paul Smith's
11:00 Penn State Greater Allegheny-Penn State Mont Alto
1:00 UC Clermont-Penn State DuBois
3:00 Penn State Greater Allegheny- King's College
Friday, November 12
Field House Court 8
9:00 Paul Smith's- Penn State DuBois
11:00 Penn State Mont Alto-King's College
2:00 Pool A Winner-Pool B 2nd
4:00 Pool B Winner-Pool A 2nd
Saturday, November 13
Field House Court 8
10:00 Consolation Game
Field House Court 4
4:00 National Championship
Thursday Preview
This matchup will be the rubber match between two of the top teams in the PSUAC this season. Penn State Mont Alto and Penn State Greater Allegheny are very familiar with each other, meeting twice prior during the regular season. On September 25, they faced off in a crossover match at Penn State Beaver. Greater Allegheny got the best of Mont Alto 3-1, led by 11 kills from Sueriah Timsah and nine from West Division 1st team member Alix Ellis. Almost a month later, Mont Alto hosted the eventual champs and was able to sweep them in straight sets. Caroline Blickley recorded 14 kills in the match, while Gracie Vaughn added 12. Penn State Greater Allegheny defined all odds winning the championship as a #3 seed in the West Division. They were able to upend Penn State DuBois in five sets to pull off the upset of the West's #2 seed to move into the semifinals. In the semifinals, they were able to sweep the #1 seed in the East Penn State York to move into the championship game. In the championship, they defeated Penn State Schuylkill in straight sets. There is perhaps no team riding more momentum into this national tournament than Penn State Greater Allegheny. Thursday should set up to be everything it is hyped up to be as these two teams square off in Virginia on Thursday morning from the Virginia Beach Field House.
Team Leaders
Penn State Mont Alto
Kills: Kylee Gooding 243, Gracie Vaughn 202, Leslie Huckle 136
Digs: Rachel Manikowski 525, Kylie Denlinger 286, Kylee Gooding 271
Assists: Kylie Denlinger 714
Blocks: Gracie Vaughn 78, Caroline Blickley 70
Penn State Greater Allegheny
Kills: Alix Ellis 249, Sueriah Timsah 205, Alexa Martell 195
Digs: Jenna Gralewski 236, Hannah Kessler 146, Sueriah Timsah 145
Assists: Andrew Ghiloni 336, Bailey Lange 233
Blocks: Alexa Martell 38, Kaitlyn Hoover 21
Friday Preview
On Friday, Mont Alto will take to the court to face off against The King's College. The King's College is located in New York City, New York. They come into this USCAA National Championship off a record of 11-5 and are winners of the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. On the season they have defeated familiar PSUAC foes Penn State Hazleton and Penn State Scranton. They also won a match against common opponent Valley Forge, who the Mont Alto squad faced in the fourth match of the season.
Team Leaders
Kills: Bella Rush 146, Samantha Klozik 136
Digs: Samantha Klozik 192, Bella Rush 163, HaileyPaige Gilroy 132
Assists: Abby Roth 263, Elizabeth Aguilar 54
Blocks: Rachel Guerra 9, Abby Roth 5, Bella Rush 5
Tournament information: Livestreaming for both games and the entire tournament can be found on USCAAsportsnetwork.com. A subscription is required to view the contests, and live stat links are currently available on the website under the volleyball team schedule.
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