WILKES-BARRE, PA (September 11, 2019) -- After being on the road for four matches, the King's College women's volleyball team returned home this evening to defeat the Highlanders of Cairn College, 3-0, to improve to 7-0 on the season. Sophomore Becca Goldberg led the Monarch offense with 11 kills, scoring 12 points for the hosts.

The Monarchs dominated the first two sets, jumping to a strong 10-2 start on three kills by sophomore Grace Frati, kills by Goldberg, freshman Marta Pawka, and sophomore Danielle Kitchner, a service ace by sophomore Wiatt Hoffmann, and three Highlanders errors in set one that the Highlanders could not overcome before posting the final, 25-16. Set two saw the Monarchs gain an early 13-6 lead before trading points with Cairn to end the set, 25-12.

In the final set of the match, the Monarchs battled, as the Highlanders took their first lead, 4-0, on kills from Allison Barnes and Caroline Bennett and two Monarch errors. The Monarchs rallied to tie the score, 4-4, on a kill from Goldberg, a service ace by sophomore Karissa Hartzell, and two Highlanders errors. King's then went on a 5-1 run thanks to two service aces by sophomore Taylor Mueller, a kill by Goldberg, and two Cairn errors, making the score 9-5. Cairn answered with their own 6-1 run to regain their second lead of the match, 11-10. Then after each team scored four straight points, they traded points to see Cairn take a 21-20 lead. The Monarchs answered with back-to-back kills by Frati and back-to-back errors by Cairn that gave the Monarchs the boost before a Kitchner kill ended the set, 25-22, giving the Monarchs the match, 3-0, as they remain undefeated and improve to 7-0 on the season.

Goldberg led the Monarchs with a match-tying high 11 kills on 19 attempts, hitting .526 and adding two blocks. Kitchner also performed well, totaling 9 kills on 22 attempts, hitting .354, and adding a match-high three blocks, and Hoffmann dished out a game-high 25 assists for the Monarchs. Mueller led the defense, tallying a match-high 18 digs, while Frati added the other double-digit digs effort for the Monarchs with 13.

As a team, the Monarchs hit .219 for the match compared to the Highlanders .011. While the dig totals were close (44-43), the Monarchs hel the edge in kills (35-24) and assists (32-21).

The Monarchs head back on the road as they travel to Hartwick College to face the host Hawks and SUNY Poly in a trimatch on Friday, September 13 at 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm. They return home for a quick turn-around on Saturday as they host Marywood University at 1:00 pm in McGrane Gymnasium.