WILKES-BARRE, PA (October 19, 2019) -- In their final home matches of the 2019 regular season, the King's College women's volleyball team swept the visiting Cougars of Medgar Evers, 3-0, and the Panthers of The College at Old Westbury, 3-0, to improve to 20-3 for the season. The win over The College at Old Westbury marks the fifth consecutive season that the Monarchs have recorded 20+ wins for head coach Bernie Kachinko.

vs. Medgar Evers:

The Monarchs controlled the entire opening match, as they held the Cougars to just 21 total points across the match. Sophomore Christie Brown continued her hitting streak, posting a career-high 11 kills on 18 attempts with just one error, hitting .556, while adding five digs. Sophomore Becca Goldberg also totaled double-digit kills for the Monarchs, totaling 10 kills on 18 attempts, hitting .389 in the opening match. For the defense, sophomore Toni Galasso led with 12 digs, and sophomore Kait Roberts added seven digs and three service aces. Freshman Caitlyn Pepper dished out a career-high 33 assists while adding three digs and two service aces for the Monarchs.

As a team, the Monarchs posted a .387 hitting percentage for the match opposed to the Cougars' -.238. The Monarchs also led in kills (39-6), aces (7-1), assists (37-6), and digs (36-24).

vs. The College at Old Westbury:

King's started this match strong yet again, holding the Panthers to just seven points in the opening set of the match, but Old Westbury would battle back in the final two sets. Set two saw the Monarchs fall early, 3-0, before a Panthers' service error and a service ace by sophomore Karissa Hartzell brought the Monarchs within one, 3-2. Both teams recorded runs of two-points apiece as the score reached 7-4 in favor of the Panthers before the Monarchs responded with an 8-1 run as five different Monarchs recorded kills in that run. King's was able to hold off Old Westbury for the remainder of set two, posting the set final, 25-18.

The final set of the tri-match began with the Monarchs jumping to an early 14-4 lead that they would not let up as they finished the set, 25-17, and took the match, 3-0, to complete their home tri-match sweep.

Pawka was the lone Monarch in double-digits for the offense with a match-high 14 kills on 22 attempts, hitting .500, while adding 4 digs and a block assist in the win. Pepper was excellent again as she dished out 23 assists, and sophomore Wiatt Hoffmann added 10 of her own. Galasso recorded a career-high three kills while adding 10 digs and two service aces, and sophomore Taylor Mueller anchored the defense with 12 digs and four assists. At the net, sophomore Danielle Kitchner posted a team-high two solo blocks in addition to four kills.

King's held the advantage in every statistical category in this match, including points (54.0-26.0), kills (43-20), aces (8-4), blocks (3-2), assists (38-17), and digs (55-30). They also hit .315 for the match compared to a .031 hitting percentage by Old Westbury.

The Monarchs hit the road for the remainder of the regular season, beginning with a big MAC Freedom matchup on Tuesday, October 22 at Misericordia University at 7:00 pm before traveling to Rowan University for a tri-match on Saturday, October 26 against the host Rowan and Wheaton College.