Sharon, Pa – In their prior three games, Penn State Shenango had made great strides in their game play, battling PSU Beaver, PSU Great Allegheny, and PSU Fayette to close games, only to fall short in the end. On Sunday Shenango tossed that monkey off their collective backs and emerged victorious in a five-set thriller at the Buhl Club (25-19, 25-16, 13 -25, 22-25, 15-4) winning the match 3-2.
The first set saw Shenango's Emily Bortnick lead the team on a strong run behind her serving. The Freshman's Jump Serve was on point once again as she led the way with seven serving aces on the day. Bortnick's serves were paired with a tough defensive effort from Donique Marcella and Lexy Channing. The combined efforts helped Shenango take the set 25 -19.
In the second set Shenango flexed its serving might once again. Emily Filicky and Giaona Caputo joined Bortnick in dominating this set. The three servers combined for only two serving errors on the entire day, a stat that has plagued the Lady Lions in recent matches. Liv Vogel and Robin Reynolds added a mix of kills that helped propel Shenango to a 25-16 victory to go up 2-0.
The third and fourth sets did not go as well for Shenango. The New Kensington strikers came back with authority for a 25-13 convincing third set victory. Shenango came roaring back in the 4th set. Katie Richards notched 2 of her 5 aces on the day in this set, but The Lady Lions came up short eventually falling 23-25.
The fifth and final set was a dominating one by Shenango. Marcella showed her defensive prowess once again. Marcella led the way with 21 digs on the day, including four in this set alone. Filicky capped off the day with another run of kills in this set. She finished with 13 on the day to lead the team. The team once again rode the hot serve(s) of Bortnick, and Caputo to a 15-4 victory to take the match 3-2. Bortnick finished the day with 24 SA's (Set Assists) followed by Caputo with seven. Richards and Filicky led the team in TA (total attempts) with 33 apiece.
Shenango will look to capture their first back-to-back wins this Wednesday when they welcome Penn State DuBois to the F.H. Buhl Club for a 7 pm tilt.