Volleyball Plays Win or Go Home vs. PSU-DuBois
It is win or go home for the PSUGA Volleyball team when they take on PSU-DuBois on Saturday at 2 p.m. A win keeps their playoff hopes alive while a loss and a PSU-Beaver win officially eliminates them from playoff contention.
McKeesport, PA. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Volleyball Team (8-12, 2-5) will be fighting for their Penn State University Athletic Conference playoff lives on Saturday against Penn State DuBois (15-4, 7-1) at 2 p.m. After a big loss against PSU-Beaver on Tuesday, the volleyball team will have to win their remaining four contests and get at least one PSU-Beaver loss to be eligible to make the playoffs.
PSUGA battled hard their last time out against PSU-Beaver, but missing some key players due to injury would be their downfall. After falling in the first set 25-12, they were able to give Beaver all they could handle in the final two sets. The teams battled back and forth for a majority of the second set with PSUGA holding on to a 19-18 lead towards the end of the set thanks to a string that saw them score 8 of 11 points. However, Beaver found a way to fight back taking the set 25-21 before finishing the sweep with a 25-20 win in the final set.
Alix Ellis (Derry, PA./Derry Area HS), who has been a dominant force for the PSUGA offense this season, continued her strong freshman campaign with a seven kill/27 attack night. Fellow attacker Sueriah Timsah (Mesquite, TX./West Mesquite HS) finished right behind her with five kills on a team high 31 total attacks. Juliana Brill (Mount Jackson, VA./Stonewall Jackson HS) continues to perform well as the team’s libero picking up 15 digs to lead the defense.
The loss moved PSUGA to 2-5 in conference play and put them 1.5 games behind PSU-Beaver for the fourth and final playoff spot in the PSUAC. With four games remaining on the schedule, there is still a chance that PSUGA could sneak into the playoff picture, but they would need to win out and receive help from other competitors around the PSUAC.
PSU-DuBois comes into Saturday’s contest riding high after winning 12 of their last 13 games, including 10 straight wins against PSUAC opponents. They defeated Penn State New Kensington 3-0 last time out and have another contest tonight when they play Pitt-Titusville in non-conference action at 7 p.m. Allison Easton led DuBois against PSU-New Kensington with 15 kills on 36 total attacks in the win.
It was Penn State DuBois that got the better of PSUGA when the two teams met back on September 19th with DuBois taking a 3-0 win. PSUGA played its best set of the year in the first set of that match eventually falling 29-27 before dropping the final two sets and losing the match. PSU-DuBois holds the all-time series lead in the matchup with a record of 13-3 against PSUGA in the previous 16 matches.
PSUGA will need to take a crucial win over PSU-DuBois if they want to see themselves in this year’s playoff picture. Tip-off for Saturday’s game is scheduled for 2 p.m. and you can watch the game live courtesy of PSU-DuBois at http://psuduboisathletics.com/multimedia.