WILKES-BARRE (August 30, 2019) -- On opening day, the King's College Women's Volleyball team defended their home court, defeating both the Ravens of Rosemont College and the Nittany Lions of Penn State Abington, 3-0, to start the 2019 season 2-0.

In the opening contest against Rosemont College, the Monarchs controlled the match the entire way, winning all three sets with the tallies of 25-9, 25-14, and 25-4. The Monarchs dominated almost every statistical category, including kills (31-12), service aces (5-3), and assists (16-12).

Sophomore Grace Frati led the offense with 12 kills and added three digs. Fellow sophomores Cleo Schultz and Meg O'Brien rounded out the offensive leaders with six and five kills, respectively. Freshmen Caitlyn Pepper contributed 13 assists to help the attack, and fellow freshman Kayla Sondberg led the defense with six digs in their Monarch debut.

The second match against Penn State Abington was a battle of runs. King's jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first set on back-to-back kills from sophomores Becca Goldberg and Cleo Schultz before PSU Abington rallied for three straight points before the teams traded points to tie the match, 7-7. Then, the Nittany Lions posted a 7-2 run before committing two attack errors in addition to consecutive kills by Goldberg and Frati that gave the Monarchs their chance to close out the set on a 15-4 run to post the final score, 25-18.

While the Monarchs held most of the control in the second set, it was no easy route to the 25-19 win. After building a 17-11 lead, two straight kills by Katharine Costello and consecutive Monarch errors allowed PSU Abington to inch within two, 17-15. After trading points yet again, kills by Frati, Schultz, sophomore Danielle Kitchner, and two kills by freshman Marta Pawka helped the Monarchs to a final 5-1 run to end the set.

In the final set of the evening, PSU Abington battled back from a 10-7 deficit to take a one-point lead on four straight points including a kill by Samantha Link, a Monarch error, and two service aces by Jenny McAnaney. The Monarchs rallied behind two service aces by sophomore Taylor Mueller, a Nittany Lion error, and a kill by Goldberg to take a 15-12 lead. The remainder of the set saw the Nittany Lions tie the score on three separate occasions but never without a response from the Monarchs. The Monarchs match-winning attack was led by two kills from Frati, and kills from sophomore Olivia Bunch and Goldberg to post the final 25-22 mark.

The Monarchs led in attacks (44-32) and digs (52-46) for a balanced attack in their second win of the season. Three Monarchs reached double digits in kills including Goldberg with 12, Pawka with 11, and Frati with 10. Sophomore Wiatt Hoffmann distributed 37 assists to help the offense, and Mueller and Frati both totaled double-digit digs with 17 and 10, respectively, to lead the defense.

King's College Women's Volleyball team hits the road and travels to Clarks Summit University on Wednesday and will play a total of four road matches before returning home on Wednesday, September 11 at 6:00 pm to play Cairn University.