WILKES-BARRE, PA (October 29, 2022)-- Kayla Sondberg had a senior day to remember on Saturday as the King's College Monarchs women's volleyball team ended the season on a winning note. They defeated the Gwynedd Mercy Griffins 3-2 in a thrilling match. The Monarchs end the season 18-10, 0-8 in Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom play, and 11-4 at McGrane Gymnasium. This win extended their non-conference home winning streak to 28 games. The Griffins end the regular season at 8-17, 2-4 against Atlantic East opponents. 

The Monarchs had the first significant run of the game. Tied at 8-8, the Monarchs went on an 8-1 stretch which featured a pair of kills from Sondberg, playing in her final game as a Monarch. Late in the set, the Monarchs got kills from Kathy Shepherd and Bella Salvia to take the opening set 25-17.

The score was close early on in the second set as well. King's pulled away first with six straight points to take a 20-12. Morgan Bryant had three straight service aces. The Griffins had a late 11-3 run to tie things up at 23. The set went past the 25th point and the Griffins came out victorious 26-24. This tied the match at one set apiece. 

Looking to overcome that tough loss, the Monarchs took an early 12-5 lead to begin the third set. Sondberg had three kills during that stretch. Three straight kills by Shepherd put the team ahead 21-13, before the Griffins made things interesting with an 8-2 run. In the end, Salvia came up with a kill as King's escaped with a 25-21 win. 

The Monarchs were down 16-12 in the fourth set, before they scored four consecutive points thanks to kills by Emma Monson and Mia Campanile. Gwynedd Mercy responded with an 8-3 run. King's pulled within four trailing 24-20. In the end however, the Griffins were able to stay alive and force a fifth and deciding set. They won the fourth set 25-20.

Needing 15 points to take the final set, the Monarchs came out of the gate attacking.  Kills by Shepherd and Joy Kindall gave them a 7-2 advantage. The Griffins would score four straight, before the Monarchs put together an important 6-2 run. Sondberg capped off her senior day and King's College career with a bang. She recorded the final kill to give the Monarchs a 15-12 win in the fifth set and 3-2 win on the day.

As a team the Monarchs had 54 kills , eight service aces, 50 assists and 91 digs while hitting .169. Kindall had a team-high 12 kills followed by Sondberg and Shepherd with 11. This was the fifth game in Sondberg's career where she registered double digit kill totals. Morgan Bryant had four service aces, Sondberg had three and Adriana Conforit had one. Sondberg, Salvia and Theresa Lynch each had a block. Carly Shire led with 40 assists followed by Keely Hoban and Morgan Williams with three. Williams led with 23 digs. Sondberg followed Williams with 18 and Shire had 15.

Junior Bria Purnell led the Griffins with 20 kills. Junior Ashley Brown followed with 12 and junior Julia Rabe had eight. Senior Julianne Dove and sophomore Lexi Lane each served up two aces while first year Ayanna Gaston led the team with 46 assists. Senior Ashley Morris had 22 digs. First year Charlotte Pugh had 16 and Gaston tallied 14.

Sondberg ended her career on a very high note. Not only did she have the winning attack, but her dig and service ace totals were both career highs.