Volleyball Goes Winless at Davis & Elkins Tournament
09/05/09...Head Coach Linda Renzi's Lady Cat volleyball team tipped-off the 2009 season with four straight losses at Friday and Saturday's of the Davis & Elkins (WV) Senators Spikefest. Pitt-Johnstown dropped matches to Lake Erie (OH) College and Davis & Elkins on Friday, before losing 3-0 to Ohio Dominican University and 3-1 to West Virginia Wesleyan College on Saturday. Sophomore outside hitter Sam Link (Ebensburg, Pa.) totaled 23 kills in Saturday's two matches to pace Pitt-Johnstown.
The Lady Cats opened Saturday's action with an 18-25, 15-25, 14-25 loss to Ohio Dominican. Link tallied nine kills, while Nicole Houser (Penn Run, Pa.) had four kills and Kristin Irwin (Bellefonte, Pa.) added three kills, two block solos and one block assist. Taylor King (York, Pa.) and Kayla Petrilla (Johnstown, Pa.) had 12 and 10 assists, respectively, and Abby Gearhart (Elton, Pa.) and Taylor Hrescak (Johnstown, Pa.) combined for 13 digs. Hrescak allso had a pair of services aces.
Pitt-Johnstown finished the tournament with a 23-25, 27-25, 16-25, 20-25 loss to West Virginia Wesleyan. Link had 14 kills, two block solos and one block assist. Hrescak finished with 10 kills and three service aces, and Houser and Jessica Heidenthal (Clymer, Pa.) each had five kills. King and Petrilla combined for 32 assists, while Irwin added two block solos and two block assists. Gearhart had 11 digs for the Lady Cats, who dropped to 0-4.
In the season opener on Friday, the Lady Cats suffered a 25-20, 22-25, 24-26, 25-17, 13-15 loss to Lake Erie. Hrescak collected 14 kills, while senior outside hitter Houser added 12 kills, and senior middle hitter Kelly Miller (Stoystown, Pa.) chipped in seven kills. King led Pitt-Johnstown with 25 set assists. Gearhart had 16 digs and Irwin had three block solos and one block assist.
With the win, Lake Erie improved to 4-2 on the year.
Pitt-Johnstown finished Friday's matches with a 21-25, 25-21, 18-25, 22-25 loss to Davis & Elkins. Along with Irwin's 12 kills, Miller and Kayla Brandle (Johnstown, Pa.) added nine and eight kills, respectively. Gearhart had 13 more digs, and Petrilla had a team-high 19 assists. Coach Renzi also got two service aces and 13 assists from King in the loss.
With the win, Davis & Elkins improved to 1-7.
The Lady Cats travel to Fairmont State (WV) University on Tuesday to open the 2009 WVIAC schedule.