WILKES-BARRE, PA (September 8, 2018) – King's College women's volleyball head coach Bernie Kachinko, in his 27^th season with the Monarchs, earned his 500^th win on Saturday with a victory over Gwynedd Mercy University as King's College swept a non-conference tri-match in McGrane Gymnasium to stay undefeated. King's knocked off Penn State Brandywine 25-12, 25-17 and 25-12, before accomplishing the milestone win in the afternoon with a 25-17, 25-14 and 25-15 win over the Griffins.

King's 3, PSU Brandywine 0
The Monarchs cruised to a morning victory over the Lions of Penn State Brandywine (0-2), as King's hit .255 (39-13-102) for the match while adding 10 aces in the victory. King's hammered down 16 kills in the opening set, hitting .419 and continued the dominance in the second set with 15 winners to take a 2-0 match edge.

In the third set, King's service game was the story with five service aces and no receiving errors, rolling to the three-game victory. Senior Rachel Miller was once again the offensive leader for the Monarchs as she tallied 15 kills and 14 digs for another double-double. The senior from Enola, Pennsylvania hit .314, chalking up two service aces as well.

The freshman contingent for King's continued its fine start to a career, as freshman Danielle Kitchner posted a career-high seven kills while adding two aces as well. Newcomer Grace Frati added seven kills, two aces, six digs and two blocks in a balanced affair, while another freshman in Becca Goldberg hammered down seven terminations on 11 swings.

Freshman setter Wiatt Hoffmann was once again superb leading the offensive until, as the southpaw dished out 35 assists in addition to three digs. Fellow freshman Taylor Mueller added a match-best 19 digs for the Monarchs, which won the dig battle with PSU Brandywine 56-43. Freshman Karissa Hartzell also had five digs in just one set of action.

King's 3, Gwynedd Mercy 0
The defensive unit for King's was the story in second match of the day, holding the Griffins (3-4) to just .030 hitting on the match while attacking at a .222 clip in the straight set victory. The Monarchs posted 15 kills, a match-high, in the first set led by five from Frati and four from Miller.

The second set was dictated by King's forcing Gwynedd into long points, which caused the Griffins to make nine hitting errors. The Monarchs left no room for error as they hit .360 on the set to double the match lead to two games. In the deciding third set, King's got four more kills from Miller along with three from senior Olivia Musto to help clinch the milestone victory for Kachinko. The clinching point of the match came at 24-14, as Musto hammed a kill down the middle of the Griffin defense for the win. 

The win for Kachinko comes nearly nine years after earning his 400^th victory on October 8, 2009 against local rival University of Scranton. It's been an amazing career for the head mentor of King's, which started back in 1989. Kachinko has compiled 16 winnings seasons and been named as the MAC Freedom head coach three times in 1993, 2000 and 2002.

"It was great to get it at home," said Kachinko. "I've been doing this for a long time, very lucky that I've surrounded myself with a winning team starting with my wife Marina and my son Lucas…having my mom in the stands, she's my biggest fan and she's taught me what family is all about. And my dad in heaven looking down, taught me about respect and hard work."

"To King's College, the community and administration to allow and trust in me to coach all these years, my assistant coaches, and of course my players," said Kachinko. "They've done everything in their power to get these wins, and it was just very nice to get it home."

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The Monarchs (6-0) will now look forward to Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom action this upcoming Wednesday evening, hosting FDU-Florham in McGrane Gymnasium at 7 p.m. in an early season league clash.