CENTER VALLEY, PA (October 6, 2021) -- The King's College women's volleyball team broke their five-game win streak as they fell, 3-0, to the host DeSales University Bulldogs on Wednesday night in Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) play. The Monarchs drop to 13-2 overall and 2-2 in the MAC Freedom, while the Bulldogs improve to 11-6 overall and 4-0 in the MAC Freedom.

The Monarchs stormed out of the gate to begin the match, holding a commanding 6-0 lead to force an early Bulldogs timeout. DeSales rallied to tie the set at 7 a piece before the teams traded points with King's on top, 13-10. The Bulldogs opened the scoring with five unanswered points and lead 24-18 before the Monarchs responded to score four straight to inch within two, 24-22, but a kill from Austin Brewer secured the opening set win for the hosts, 25-22.

Similarly in set two, King's had the momentum to start the set, leading 5-4, but DeSales broke the 6-6 tie with a 4-0 run. There were four ties down the stretch as both teams battled throughout the second set, but the Bulldogs continued to build the separation using a 9-3 run to close out the set, 25-19, and take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Three early ties before a 7-4 run from the Monarchs saw the visitors leading, 12-9. DeSales used another big run in the middle of the set to regain the lead, 18-13. King's inched within six, 23-17, on a Bulldogs error, but could not salvage a win in the third set, falling 25-17 in the final set and 3-0 in the match.

The senior middle hitter pair of Danielle Kitchner and Cleo Schultz led the Monarchs offense, as Kitchner totaled seven kills on 11 attempts with no errors, hitting .636 for the match, with four blocks. Schultz added six kills, and senior Olivia Bunch recorded five kills with four digs, three aces, and two blocks. Senior setter Wiatt Hoffmann dished out 22 of the team's 24 assists, adding seven digs. For the defense, senior Toni Galasso and first year Carly Shire each posted 14 digs, with Galasso adding three aces as well.

The Bulldogs were led by Caroline Garretson with 14 kills, while Mykenah Calder paced the defense with 15 digs. Setters Grace Grandinetti and Audrey Wolfe split the 48 DeSales assists in the game, with Grandinetti totaling 24 and Wolfe adding 16.

As a team, King's hit .101 for the match with 27 kills on 109 attempts. The Monarchs led in aces (7-5) and blocks (4-3), and recorded 46 team digs in the loss.

King's returns to McGrane Gymnasium on Friday, October 8 as they host Wilson College at 5:00 p.m. in nonconference action.