ERIE, Pa. - The Gannon volleyball team continued to roll through the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division, earning wins over Cheyney (25-12, 25-13, 25-10) and Kutztown (16-25, 25-21, 25-8, 25-19) Friday night at the Hammermill Center.
Gannon opened the day by easily taking care of Cheyney in straight sets. After falling behind 5-3 during the opening, Gannon rolled off nine straight points to take a commanding lead, eventually winning 25-12.
The Lady Knights were able to string together points in both the second and third sets, limiting Cheyney to 12 and 10 points respectively in the final two frames.
Gannon scored a total of eight points in the second set behind the serve of
Emily Foertsch (Eagan, Minn. / Eagan). An ace and a kill from the freshman along with a pair of kills from
Lynne Hibbard (West Barnstable, Mass. / Barnstable) accounted for Gannon's first four points. Foertsch later picked up two more aces, giving Gannon a 22-10 lead en route to the set win.
Lexy Weissinger (Erie, Pa. / McDowell) opened the scoring for Gannon in the third set with back-to-back aces. The Lady Knights finished off the match behind the serve of
Megan Wendel (Aurora, Ohio / Kenston) with consecutive kills from Foertsch accounting for the final two points.
Gannon hit .442 as a team while limiting Cheyney to a .091 attack percentage. The Lady Knights held a 42-16 edge in kills and racked up 17 service aces while the Wolves totaled just one.
Maggie Desrosiers (Uniontown, Ohio / Hoover) finished with a match-high 14 kills. The sophomore had three aces and didn't commit an attack error for a .560 hitting percentage. Hibbard added 10 kills and two service aces. Foertsch totaled four kills, four assists, four aces, five digs and two block assists. Wendel dished out 33 assists and added four kills.
The Lady Knights needed a come-from-behind effort to take a win away from Kutztown in the nightcap. The Golden Bears raced out to a 10-2 lead after Gannon struggled to run its offense following tough serves from Kutztown. The lead was too much for the Lady Knights to overcome, as the Golden Bears raced away with a 25-16 win.
The momentum stayed with Kutztown to start the second set, rolling off six straight points to take an 8-4 lead. However, Gannon finally got things clicking midway through the set and used an 11-2 run to take a 19-13 lead. This time it was Kutztown that was unable to corral the Gannon serve with
Sarah Glancy (Walled Lake, Mich. / Walled Lake Central), Desrosiers and
Morgan Walters (Girard, Ohio / Girard) all putting away aces during the run. Four different Lady Knights also added kills during the stretch.
Kutztown strung together a couple points down the stretch, but having regained the momentum, Gannon finished with an explosive kill from
Morgan Reineke (New Knoxville, Ohio / New Knoxville).
With the score tied at one the Lady Knights showed up big in the third set, putting away Kutztown after allowing them to score just eight points. Serving early in the set, Walters again gave the Golden Bears fits, tallying two aces and allowing the Gannon offense to run quick plays, resulting in three kills from Reineke and one from Glancy.
Glancy's serve led to another big scoring run for the Lady Knights, stringing together six straight points to take a commanding 18-4 lead. Sazama capped the set with an ace.
The fourth set featured closer play, but an early 6-0 run for Gannon allowed the Lady Knights to take control early. Kutztown threatened to even the score after a 3-0 run that made the score 20-16, but Gannon used a back-row kill from Desrosiers to stop the spurt. Kills from Reineke and
Kayla Knickerbocker (Richland, Mich. / Gull Lake) gave Gannon the 3-1 win.
Gannon rallied from hitting just .081 in the first set to finish with a team hitting percentage of .226 for the match. Each member of the senior class reached double-digit kills with Sazama totaling 15, Reineke with 13 and Glancy adding 11. Knickerbocker added six kills while Hibbard totaled four.
Taryn Graham (Huron, Ohio / Huron) finished with a team-best 17 digs while Desrosiers totaled 14 and Wendel added 13. Wendel also dished out 41 assists and three kills.
Glancy and Wendel led the defensive effort at the net with four and three block asists respectively. Walters and Sazama helped Gannon hold an 11-6 edge in aces, recording five and three respectively.
Gannon improved to 15-3 overall with a 7-1 PSAC record. Kutztown now sits at 8-13 overall and 0-8 in conference while Cheyney fell to 0-14 with an 0-8 mark in league play. Gannon wraps up action at the PSAC East-West Crossover with a match against West Chester Saturday at 3 p.m.
