ERIE, Pa. - The Gannon women's volleyball team concluded the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East/West Crossover by sweeping both the East Stroudsburg Warriors and Kutztown Golden Bears on Saturday at the Hammermill Center. The Lady Knights opened the day with a win over the Warriors with set scores of 25-11, 25-15 and 25-14 in the first match of the day. In the final match of the Crossover versus Kutztown, the Lady Knights captured their 20th consecutive win at the Hammermill Center with set scores of 25-14, 25-18 and 25-12. The Lady Knights improved to 9-4 overall and 4-0 in PSAC action.
"Obviously, we're very pleased to be 4-0 to start the conference season. Being on our home floor really helped and I think our performance improved with each match this weekend," said head coach
Matt Darling. "Against East Stroudsburg and Kutztown today, we found blocking and offense, which is what led us to victory in those two matches."
To open day two of the PSAC East/West Crossover, Gannon faced a hungry East Stroudsburg squad looking to erase the memory of their sweep by both Slippery Rock and host Mercyhurst on Friday at the PSAC East /West Crossover held at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center. In the losses, the Warriors fell to 1-2 in PSAC action.
The Lady Knights relied on the frontline to capture the sweep of East Stroudsburg. Accounting for 12 blocks, six different Lady Knights took part in a block. The Lady Knights were led by sophomore
Lynne Hibbard (West Barnstable, Mass. / Barnstable) with eight block assists, junior
Megan Wendel (Aurora, Ohio / Kenston) with a solo block and four block assists and freshman
Hannah Kren (Waukesha, Wisc. / Wisconsin Lutheran) with five block assists.
"
Lynne Hibbard was terrific all weekend and has really elevated her game in the past couple weeks," said Darling. "However, today she was helped by everybody including
Taryn Graham,
Jordyn Thiery and
Hannah Kren, who passed great and played terrific defense."
Recording five blocks in the opening set, the Lady Knights erupted for seven straight points to take an 11-1 lead with freshman
Jordyn Thiery (Cincinnati, Ohio / McAuley) at the service line. Gannon worked to widen its lead to 14, sealing the 25-11 victory off a pair of Warrior errors.
Continuing to work the front of the night, the Lady Knights registered four blocks including a block on the first point of the second set. Junior server
Taryn Graham (Huron, Ohio / Huron) led the Lady Knights to a 10-2 lead converting on seven serves. Taking an 18-5 lead, Gannon controlled the rest of the action despite the Warriors efforts late in the match. The Lady Knights went onto take the second set, 25-15.
Gannon finished off the sweep of the Warriors in the third set. Pushing its lead each step of the way, Gannon would double up on the Warriors, 18-9, off a kill by Kren. Once again, the Warriors would not go down without a fight. Among the final 12 points of the match, Gannon outscored East Stroudsburg, 7-5. Kren would give the Lady Knights a 25-14 win off a booming kill set by Wendel.
Kren compiled eight kills, eight digs and five block assists. Hibbard recorded eight block assists along with six kills. Wendel finished with 25 assists, a solo block, four block assists, seven digs and four kills.
In a match of unbeaten PSAC teams, Edinboro Fighting Scots came back from a 2-1 deficit against the Kutztown Golden Bears to win the match 3-2. Taking the opening set 25-19, Edinboro dropped the next two sets. Unable to capture the win in the fourth set, the Golden Bears would drop the extra set by the score of 15-7. In the extra set, the Fighting Scots raced out to an 8-1 lead to help seal the win.
Edinboro completed a sweep of East Stroudsburg in the next match to improve to 4-0 in conference action. In a back and forth match, the Fighting Scots and Warriors answered each other point for point before Edinboro took the opening set by the score of 28-26. The next sets would be decided by less than three points. The Fighting Scots took the second set, 25-22, before winning the final set by the score of 25-23. Among the eight contests hosted at the Hammermill Center this weekend, Edinboro and Kutztown provided the closest sets of the two-day event.
Entering the day with a 2-0 mark in conference, Kutztown was looking to bounce back from an extra-set loss to Edinboro earlier in the day on Saturday. Gannon had its own agenda. The Lady Knights raced out to a 5-1 lead over the Golden Bears in the opening set. The Lady Knights would take a 17-9 lead off a block by junior
Emily Carver (Stow, Ohio / Theodore Roosevelt), forcing Kutztown to take a timeout in an effort to regroup. It was too late for the Golden Bears, as the Lady Knights secured a 25-14 win.
With the score tied at 12-12 in the second set, Gannon grabbed control of the set off a 7-1 run. Kutztown tried to hold on in the final 11 points, but it was too late once again. The Lady Knights took the second set from the Golden Bears, 25-18.
Gannon set the tone in third set against Kutztown, taking a 10-2 lead. Picking up two assists in the first ten points, Wendel took control of the Lady Knights' offense. The junior would record assists on all six of the Lady Knights' final points in the 25-12 win in the third set. Wendel posted a match-high 39 assists to guide the Lady Knights' offense
"Like always,
Megan Wendel was solid in running our offense," said Darling.
Kren recorded a double-double with ten kills and 12 digs. Thiery recorded 11 kills and nine digs. Among Gannon's top performers against Kutztown was Carver, who finished with eight kills, one solo block, three block assists and a .538 hitting percentage.
"It was nice to see
Emily Carver have a breakout weekend, especially on Saturday," said Darling.
After hosting a pair of crossover events at the Hammermill Center, Gannon will travel to Edinboro on Oct. 4 to face the Fighting Scots at 7 p.m.
"As much as I would like to enjoy an undefeated weekend, we now need to prepare for an undefeated Edinboro team on Friday night," said Darling.
