BRYN ATHYN, PA (October 10, 2019) -- The King's College women's volleyball team battled, defeating the host Bryn Athyn in their first five-set match of the 2019 season, 3-2. Sophomores
Becca Goldberg,
Wiatt Hoffmann, and
Karissa Hartzell all posted season-highs in the win on the road for the Monarchs.
This match was a battle from the start, as both teams traded points in the first set. The Lions held a four-point lead, 10-6 and that cushion was what they needed to finish the set, trading points with the Monarchs and eventually taking set one, 25-21.
Set two saw King's swing the momentum, starting the set strong on a 9-2 run led by Goldberg with two kills and three Monarchs with a kill a piece. Bryn Athyn responded, inching within three, 14-11, before King's finished the set on an 11-2 run led by three Goldberg kills to take set two and tie the match, 1-1. The third set saw a similar story as the Monarchs jumped to an early 15-6 lead and never led by less than five points before posting the set final, 25-14.
In set four, the match saw one lead change and three ties as Bryn Athyn responded to losing two straight sets to take a 14-12 lead before finishing the set on an 11-5 run to take the set and tie the match, 2-2, and force the fifth set, the first for the Monarchs this season.
The Monarchs started set five strong jumping out to an early 9-2 lead behind three Goldberg kills, two service aces by sophomore
Taylor Mueller, a kill by sophomore
Cleo Schultz, and three Bryn Athyn errors. The Lions rallied to inch within two, 11-9, before using a 5-3 run to tie the set at 14. Finally, an attack error by Bryn Athyn and a Goldberg kill put the match away as the Monarchs won, 3-2, for their final road match in this stretch.
Goldberg was stellar again for the Monarchs as she posted a career-high and match-high 21 kills on 42 attempts, hitting .405 for the match, while adding two digs and two blocks. Hoffmann posted a season-high and match-high 45 assists while also tallying six digs, four kills, and two blocks. The last season-high performance of the night came from Hartzell as she posted a season-high 20 digs.
Other top defenders for the match included Mueller, who totaled a match-highs with 24 digs and five service aces, sophomore
Toni Galasso who also posted double-digit dig totals with 11, sophomore
Olivia Bunch who totaled a match-high three blocks, and sophomore
Cleo Schultz who added two blocks of her own. Freshman
Marta Pawka also was the other Monarch to total double-digit kills with 10.
As a team, the Monarchs finished the match hitting .206 compared to the Lions' .168. King's also held the advantage in kills (55-47), blocks (5-2), assists (55-47), and digs (82-67).
The Monarchs take a quick break as they begin their fall break. They will be back in action on Wednesday evening at 7:00 pm in McGrane Gymnasium as they host local MAC Freedom rival Wilkes University.
--MONARCHS--
