First Round of Freedom Conference Tournament

 

WILKES-BARRE, PA--- After finishing their season with a solid 21-8 overall record and going 4-4 in the conference, the Monarch volleyball team earned a fifth-seed in the MAC Freedom Conference Tournament and will be playing tonight at 7:00pm at fourth-seed Wilkes University, who ended their season 11-19 and 5-3 in the Freedom. The match will be played at the Marts Center on the campus of Wilkes.

Tickets have been set by the Middle Atlantic Conferences Office at $5 for adults, $4 for seniors, and $2 for students, while children under age six will be admitted free of charge.

 

King's and Wilkes have played twice this season, splitting 1-1. The Lady Monarchs downed the visiting Colonels 3-1 early in the season at the King's Tournament, but Wilkes took down the Monarchs 3-2 in a conference match-up at the Colonels' home gym.

 

The Lady Monarchs boast a high-powered offense, scoring 1,086 kills on 2,626 attempts for a second spot in hitting percentage in the Freedom at 27.4, one place behind #1 seed Eastern. Leading King's and the conference is junior Kat Clerici, who has 301 kills and a dominating 40.9 hitting percentage. In total kills, the front pair of King's, Clerici and Kaitlyn Malshefski, are ranked third and forth respectively in the Freedom. Malshefski has put down 254 total kills on the year.

 

Assisting the heavy-hitting offense is sophomore Samantha Garrigues, who has put up 620 assists on the year, averaging 7.47 a game. Standing in second for the Monarchs is sophomore Kelly Greenway, who has tallied 274 assists, averaging 4.64 a game.

 

At the net, Clerici and sophomore Emily Kline lead King's blocking efforts. Clerici has totaled 94 blocks on the year, including 45 solo and 49 assisted. Kline has gotten up for 42 total blocks on 17 solo and 25 assisted. On the back line, junior Danielle Belfanti is dominating the Freedom Conference, picking up 562 digs, averaging 5.92 a game. Belfanti also brings 36 service aces to the court. Assisting Belfanti in the backcourt is fellow junior Katie Doss, who has registered 221 digs.

On the Colonels side of the net, the leading scorer is Marrisa Harrison, who has tallied 301 kills and 53 service aces. Katherine Harrington is in second with 213 kills. LeAnn Searfoss is the assist leader, scoring 741 on the year. On defense, Allison Kelleher tops Wilkes with 373 digs while Kaitlyn McGurk has earned 256 digs.

The winner of this match will travel to first-seed Eastern University on Wednesday evening. In the two/three seed match, #2 FDU-Florham (21-13, 7-1) hosts #3 DeSales University (19-12, 6-2) Wednesday evening.