LATROBE, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson College women's volleyball team (5-12, 1-2) picks up an important 3-1 Presidents' Athletic Conference victory against the Saint Vincent Bearcats (4-9, 2-2) in the highly contested race towards the postseason.
Senior
Rian Benz (Strongsville, Ohio/Holy Name) led the Presidents offensively with a career high 20 kills. Additionally, sophomore
Cali Dagen (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) had 19. Senior
Brielle Moorhouse (East Liberty, Ohio/Benjamin Logan) recorded a season high 29 assists. Defensively, sophomore
Sydney Allen (Washington, Pa./Trinity) led the team with 25 digs. Dagen recorded 22 digs as well.
Saint Vincent got out to an early five-point advantage, but the Presidents responded with an eight-point run of their own on Benz's serves. Dagen had four kills during the stretch. Benz and sophomore
Lola Jacobs (Bridgeville, Pa./South Fayette) each had one. The two teams traded points as the opening set ended up tied at 21. W&J found an extra gear, winning four out of the last five points to take the first set 25-22.
W&J used that momentum to start the second set on an 11-2 run with serves from Moorhouse and Benz. The senior had three kills with Jacobs recording two as well. The Red & Black limited any Bearcat chances to close the gap in the second frame. Dagen recorded three kills and an ace to help W&J close out a 25-12 second set. Freshman
Eva McKnight (East Liverpool, Ohio/Beaver Local) had two kills as well.
Saint Vincent rebounded and started the third set with three separate runs of at least four points to take a 14-5 lead. The Presidents started to close the gap with a mini four-point stretch of their own with Allen serving. Both teams traded points before W&J responded with two additional four point runs to tie the third frame at 23. Allen and sophomore
Jordan Sirianni (Aliquippa, Pa./Hopewell) had the serving for the two runs. Four different Presidents recorded kills to get W&J back in the set. Extra volleyball was needed to decide the the third frame, but the Bearcats ultimately took the set 28-26.
The two teams traded points to open the fourth as W&J took an early 9-7 advantage. Benz and Jacobs both recorded two kills to begin the fourth. The Red & Black opened a small four point advantage and that was the spark needed to propel the team over the finish line. W&J won eight out of 11 points in the middle of the set and opened a 17-11 margin. The six points ended up being the difference as W&J went on to take the fourth set 25-19 and the match 3-1.
The Presidents close out their four-game road trip with a trip to face the Grove City Wolverines. The match is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m on Friday (Oct. 9). in Grove City, Pa.
