CALIFORNIA (Nov. 11) – The Vulcans clinched the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Southwest Division and earned a berth in next week's league tournament with a 3-1 victory (25-22, 25-21, 23-25, 25-17) over IUP at the Convocation Center on Friday night.
With the win, the California University of Pennsylvania volleyball team improve to 20-8 overall and 12-5 in conference play. Meanwhile, the Crimson Hawks fall to 19-9 behind a 10-7 mark in league action. With one match left in the regular season, Clarion, IUP and Seton Hill are all tied for second place in the PSAC Southwest standings and two-matches behind Cal U.
Sophomore
Seairra Barrett (Center Twp., Pa./Central Valley) led the team with 14 kills on a .300 hitting percentage. Junior
Ashley Leto (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) and sophomore
Lois van Schaik (Naarden, Netherlands/St. Vituscollege) both tallied nine kills, while senior
Danielle Hayes (Erie, Pa./McDowell) and sophomore
Tina Bellhy (McDonald, Pa./Fort Cherry) both collected eight kills in the win. Senior
Megan Litoborski (Lemont, Ill./Lemont) guided the offense with 36 assists against the Crimson Hawks.
Leto set a season high with 26 digs, which was just one shy of her career high, and Hayes added 18 digs. Litoborski collected 12 digs and junior
Taylor Solo (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) posted 11 digs. Barrett controlled the net with four blocks against IUP on Friday.
In the first set, the teams traded points to keep the score tied at 5-5. Cal U won four of the next five points to take a 9-6 lead before IUP scored five-unanswered points to take an 11-9 lead. Following a timeout, the Vulcans went on a 5-2 run to regain the lead at 14-13 before the Crimson Hawks answered with three-straight points to take a 16-14 lead. Cal U won eight of the next 11 points to hold a 22-19 advantage. The teams traded back-to-back runs to give Cal U a 24-21 lead before a kill from Barrett gave Cal U a 25-22 victory.
The Vulcans took the second set behind a .317 hitting percentage. Cal U jumped out to a 5-3 lead before a point from IUP cut the deficit to 5-4. The Vulcans won five of the next eight points to take a 10-7 lead. IUP took three of the next four points to trim the lead to 11-10 before Cal U took four of the next six points to extend the lead to 15-12. An attack error allowed the Crimson Hawks to cut the lead to 15-13 before the Vulcans took six of the next eight to hold a 21-15 advantage. IUP rattled off five-straight points to pull within 21-20. The Vulcans took four of the final five points to win the set 25-21.
In the third set, Cal U raced out to a 7-2 lead. The Crimson Hawks made it 7-3 before the Vulcans took six of the next eight points to extend the lead to 13-5. IUP won five of the next six points to trim the lead to 14-10. A kill by Barrett made it 15-10 before the Crimson Hawks went on a 6-2 run to cut the lead to 17-16. Three-unanswered points made it 20-16 in favor of Cal U before IUP won four of the next six points to trim the deficit to 22-20. A kill from Barrett gave the Vulcans a 23-20 lead before the Crimson Hawks took the next five points to win the set 25-23.
In the fourth set, the Vulcans raced out to a 6-0 lead. The teams then traded back-to-back runs to make the score 8-2 in favor of the Vulcans. IUP took five of the next eight points to trim the lead to 11-7. The Vulcans then won five of the next eight to extend the lead to 16-10 before the Crimson Hawks took four of the next five to cut the deficit to 17-14. Cal U scored three-unanswered points to make it 20-14 before IUP responded with consecutive points to cut the lead to 20-16. The Vulcans took five of the final six points to close out the match with a 25-17 win.
Cal U closes out the regular season tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 12, when it hosts Clarion for Senior Day at 5 p.m.
