Volleyball struggles in conference play
Volleyball started the week with a loss in their first conference game of the season against Pitt-Bradford. Behrend was ahead in the first two sets but, Pitt-Bradford came back to win in five sets. In the third set, errors from Behrend let Pitt-Bradford open up to a 16-12 lead, and thereafter, Behrend couldn’t recover. Hannah Saunders had 24 assists while Madison Clapper had 12 digs.
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On Saturday, volleyball split a doubleheader against Penn State Altoona and Wilkes. The opening match against Altoona went to five sets, where Altoona edged out Behrend. In the first set, Altoona won because Behrend couldn’t overcome two errors. Altoona also won the second set, by a score of 25-18, with 16 kills in the set. Behrend won the third and fourth set to force a winner-take-all set. The third set was tied at 23-23, until two points by Keely Hering and Hannah Saunders won the set and forced a fourth set. The fourth set was dominated by Behrend, who never looked back from their dominating lead, which was as big as eight points. Behrend had an opportunity to win the fifth set, but Altoona took a timely timeout late, bounced back, and won the next three points to win the set and match.
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In the final game against Wilkes, Keely Hering and Amanda Henry both had a double-double in the victory. After losing the first set, Behrend won the next three to win the game. Behrend used two big runs to help win the second and third set. In the final set, Behrend took advantage of four straight errors and two kills by Keely Hering to take a 23-19 lead. An ace and another error lead to victory in the final set. Keely Hering had 15 kills and 11 digs, and Amanda Henry 12 kills, 11 digs, and 4 aces in their double-doubles. Madison Clapper recorded 30 digs and Hannah Saunders had 38 assists, too. Behrend is now 6-10 on the season and 0-2 in conference play.
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The next match for the Lions is at home against conference foe Hilbert on Tuesday at 7 p.m. They also play in the Lycoming Tip-Off Classic tournament starting on Friday.