Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
St. Francis (NY)
Bucknell Volleyball Sweeps St. Francis (N.Y.) 3-0
9/30/2008 8:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 30, 2008
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell volleyball team defeated St. Francis 3-0 at Empowering Everyone's Kids Night on Tuesday at Davis Gym. Freshman Kyleigh McAhren had another strong outing for the Bison (6-10, 1-1), tying a career-high 12 kills and setting a new high with four service aces.
Bucknell started the match slowly and both teams traded points for the first half of the opening set. The tides began to turn, however, when a kill by senior Liz Hazuka tied the set at 8 apiece. Sophomore Rachel Rodriguez took over from there and the Bison ran off three straight points on her serve with the help of back-to-back kills from classmate Heidi Kamp.
McAhren completed her second kill of the evening to put the score at 16-10 and forced the Terriers (0-19, 0-1) to call a timeout. Although St. Francis responded with a kill from Melissa Manning, the visiting squad was unable to make a full comeback. The Bison dashed any hope of a St. Francis set win with four consecutive kills - two from McAhren and one apiece from Kamp and freshman Anne Ellenberger - to move the score from 17-12 to 20-12. An attack error from the Terriers ended the set at 25-18.
The Bison got off to a roaring start in the second set, going up 10-2, but they left the door open for St. Francis. Bucknell committed a series of errors before calling a timeout at 10-7. Kamp came out of the huddle swinging and immediately posted a kill, her fourth of the night.
McAhren later threw in a pair of kills off assists from junior Allison Gittings and put the Orange and Blue up 14-8. Freshman Emily Sawanobori, who had seven digs on the evening, put Bucknell farther ahead with a service ace. St. Francis was never able to take the lead as sophomore Kaitlin Segal continued her strong hitting. Segal, who had seven kills in the match, and junior Lindsay Smith and freshman Katie Baumgarten each contributed a kill in the second set.
St. Francis held one of its few leads in the match early in the third set when Detelina Dimitrova gave the Terriers the 4-3 advantage with a kill. The Bison responded quickly and Hazuka tied the set at five with a kill of her own. On the next point, McAhren served an ace to give Bucknell a lead it never gave up. Sawanobori ultimately closed the book on St. Francis by serving for the final 10 points of the match. With some help from kills by Segal and McAhren, as well as some Terrier mis-hits, the Bison took the set and the match 25-10.
Match totals included eight kills from Kamp and six more from Hazuka. Kamp also added a team-high five blocks. Senior Shannon Pitsch's 29 assists was best in the match. The Bison were aided defensively by Hazuka with four digs and two blocks. Ellenberger tallied two blocks as well, and freshman Lindsay Regruto contributed two digs.
In addition to putting another notch in the wins column, head coach Cindy Opalski was especially happy about getting playing time for so many of the young Bison. Freshman Taylor Willis was able to record her first career block and freshman walk-on Kelsey Guardia saw her first action at Bucknell.
"This mid-week game was an opportunity for us to give our entire roster a chance to continue to succeed," said Opalski. "As the season progresses and we get deeper into Patriot League play, it's the teams that are going to be the most aggressive and with the most depth that are going to make that championship final four. If we have an opportunity to work on that depth, we're going to put ourselves in a better position to make the tournament."
The Bison will continue to attempt to put themselves in that position to make the Patriot League tournament when they take on Army at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 3 in West Point, N.Y. Action continues at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 4 as Bucknell faces off against Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.
