Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
West Virginia
Bucknell Volleyball Drops Pair at Akron Invitational
9/11/2009 8:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 11, 2009
AKRON, Ohio - Bucknell volleyball took an early hit at the Akron Invitational falling in straight sets to West Virginia (25-19, 25-16, 25-17) and to the host Zips (25-20, 25-18, 25-16) on Friday night. The Bison fell below .500 for the first time this season, finishing the day with a 3-5 record.
Kaitlin Segal (Pacific Palisades, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) led the Bison in kills in both matches, posting seven against West Virginia (6-2) and eight against Akron (7-2). Allison Gittings (Dayton, Md./Glenelg) was also the team's top assists getter with 10 against the Mountaineers and 20 against the Zips.
Head coach Cindy Opalski was pleased with the way her team responded to playing such tough opponents in the lead-up to the Bison's home invitational next weekend.
"Between the first match today against a really tough West Virginia team and the last match, we probably made more progress than we've made all season," said Opalski. "We saw good things from our freshman and sophomores, and we're starting to see the consistency come back to our upperclassmen. That's a really key thing."
The day got off to a rough start with the Mountaineers. West Virginia ran out to a 7-0 lead in the first set, with four of those points coming off Bison attack errors.
Segal finally got the Bucknell on the board with a kill. After West Virginia committed three consecutive attack errors, Segal struck again, this time with a service ace to bring the Bison to within three at 8-5. Segal registered yet another kill for 10-9, but that was as close as the Bison got for the remainder of the set. The Orange and Blue struggled to keep the score within a few points and, although Ragin Jackson (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Hendrick-Hudson) earned a pair of late kills, Bucknell fell 25-19 for an early deficit.
The second set looked as if it were going to be more closely contended. Gittings served an ace for 5-4 to give Buckenll its first lead of the day. A set of West Virginia errors helped to keep Bucknell up, although never by more than a single point.
The Mountaineers snapped out of their brief funk to go on a 10-2 run and set the score at 19-10. The Bison's only points during that stretch came off West Virginia errors. That streak took Bucknell out of the set. McAhren recorded a kill for 19-11 before the Mountaineers close it out 25-16.
Bucknell could not capitalize on West Virginia hitting only .065 in the second. The Bison struggled with their own hitting woes, recording a negative attack percentage in the set.
Like the second, the final set started with neither team being able to take control. The Bison got kills from four different players and a service ace from Segal to go up 6-5. The score see-sawed though much of the set with neither team going up by more than just a few points.
A combination of more effective hitting from Bucknell and some errors from the Mountaineers gave the Bison a lead as late as 14-12. West Virginia committed a service error at 15 all, then righted its ship to go on a 7-1 run to close the door on its opponent. The Mountaineers took the final set by a comfortable 25-17 score.
Unfortunately for the Bison faithful, the match with Akron turned out to be more of the same. Bucknell struggled offensively but remained in the first set because of a number of errors from the Zips. The Bison came within one point when back-to-back Segal kills put the score at 8-7 in favor of Akron.
Akron then jumped out to a five-point advantage that Bucknell could not make up. The Bison came within three on several occasions, including at 19-16 after a block assist by Kebah Edoho (Odenton, Md./Arundel) and Heidi Kamp (Eugene, Ore./Henry D. Sheldon). That five-point lead was just what the Zips needed, however, as they went on to take the first 25-20.
The second set was more of the first with both teams appearing evenly matched in early play. Bucknell took a 3-2 lead after an ace by Kyleigh McAhren (Napa, Calif./Justin-Siena). That lead was the team's first since being up 1-0 in the first set. Like the first set as well, the lead proved to be short-lived. Akron quickly regained control of momentum and, despite Bucknell's best efforts, the Zips took the second, 25-18.
Akron got off to a bit of a rocky start in the third, committing a handful of service and attack errors. The miscues gave Bucknell a bit of a window to try and get back in the match. Kamp earned her fourth kill of the match to get the Bison within three points at 8-5, then teamed with McAhren for a block assist at 8-6.
The Zips started to pull away after the junior's strong back-to-back plays, however. Bucknell called a timeout to try to stop Akron's 10-2 lead. The stoppage in play paid off as the Bison made a mini run of their own. Edoho registered back-to-back kills for 22-12. An Akron ball handling error and an ace from Emily Sawanobori pushed it to 22-14.
Akron proved too strong in the end, however, pulling out the third despite the lapse, 25-16.
The Bison will be back on the court at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow to take on Saint Francis (Pa.) on the final day of the Akron Invitational.
