UTICA, NY (October 5, 2019) -- King's College women's volleyball used a balanced attack to lead the Monarchs to a tri-match sweep over the host Utica College Pioneers and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) Trailblazers to improve to 14-3 overall. 

vs. Utica:

Against the host Pioneers, the Monarchs led the entire match. They came started with a dominating win in set one as they used an early 10-2 lead to cruise to a 25-9 victory.

The final two sets saw Utica battle, as the Pioneers took their first lead of the match, 9-8, in set two before the Monarchs used a 6-2 run to regain the lead, 14-11. The Pioneers battled yet again to tie the score, 14-14, but the Monarchs responded with four straight points on a kills by freshman Marta Pawka and sophomore Olivia Bunch and two Pioneers errors to shift the momentum and eventually close the set, 25-20.

Utica started set three, scoring the first two points before King's answered scoring seven straight. The Monarchs led by at least five points the rest of the way to take set three, 25-20, and winning match one of the tri-match, 3-0.

Pawka led the offense for King's with seven kills, and Bunch and sophomore Cleo Schultz and Christie Brown totaled six kills a piece. For the defense, sophomore Taylor Mueller led with a match-high 18 digs. Sophomore Wiatt Hoffmann performed well yet again, dishing out 25 a match-high 25 assists and adding three blocks, while Schultz added another three blocks of her own.

As a team, the Monarchs led the match in kills (35-27), service aces (5-3), blocks (7-1), assists (33-28), and digs (44-42). They also posted a .242 hitting percentage for the match compared to the Pioneers' .020.

vs. MCLA:

King's jumped to another early lead, starting the match on a 10-3 run that they would not relinquish for the remainder of the set defeating the Trailblazers, 25-16. Set two was a similar story as the Monarchs took a commanding 15-3 lead before posting a 25-12 final, and they continued the momentum into set three, dominating MCLA and winning 25-11 to take the second match, 3-0.

Pawka led with a match-high nine kills on 23 attempts and committing just two errors, hitting .304. Schultz added six kills on 12 attempts, hitting .417 and adding two blocks for the match. Hoffmann dished out a match-high 27 assists for the Monarchs, and Mueller added another match-high 19 digs for the defense.

The Monarchs led again, totaling 34 kills off of 33 assists, while adding 13 service aces, five blocks, and 47 digs. They also hit .269 as a team compared to the Trailblazers' .061.

King's continues their road stretch and returns to action on Tuesday, October 8 as they travel to face the Aggies of Delaware Valley University in MAC Freedom action starting at 7:00 pm.