DuBois, Pa – The Penn State Shenango Lady Lions volleyball team struggled but showed a lot of grit in their first game of a two-game road trip. Penn State DuBois made the most of their serve opportunities, particularly in the first & second sets, in which they dominated. Shenango was able to rally for a far more competitive third set, but The Lady Lions were topped (15-25, 17-25, 20-25) and fell to 1-5 on the season.
The First set saw Shenango maintain a back-and-forth battle early on. Katie Richards tied it up early 3-3 with a good ripping serve, but The Lady Loins were unable to maintain momentum. DuBois capitalized on five straight set points, jumping out to an 8-3 lead, one that they never relented as they took the set. Shenango was held to only 3 serve points for the entire set in the 25-15 loss.
In the second set Shenango dug itself a large hole early. Penn State DuBois jumped out to a dominating 12-3 lead. They increased that lead to 18-6, before Shenango stopped the serve behind the digs of Donique Marcella and blocks of Richards and Lexy Channing. Emily Bortnick then led a spirited comeback. Her Jump serve stymied DuBois. Shenango grabbed three consecutive serve points from Bortnick's rally to pull within 9 points of the lead. The two teams then exchanged points off errors and digs. DuBois held a 24-14 lead, but Richards repeated Bortnick's trio of serve points as Shenango once again began a rally. She brought the team back to within 7 points of the lead, before DuBois regained the serve and took the set 25-17.
The Third set (much like their prior two contests) was once again an emotionally charged back-and-forth tilt. Bortnick's jump serve took charge early and put Shenango into its first lead of the match 4-2. The two teams exchanged serves again tying it at 6-6. Liv Vogel found her powerful serve at the right time, and Shenango once again went up by two points 8-6 behind Vogel's dynamic dishes. DuBois and Shenango would aggressively exchange points eventually tying twice (8-8 & 9-9) before DuBois began to take a slight lead. DuBois looked to be pulling way for good with a 15-11 lead, but Vogel once again punished the DuBois defensive efforts to bring Shenango within three 15-12. DuBois then took a further lead to 21-13, but Shenango refused to relent. Bortnick, Vogel and Richards combined to bring the Lady Lions within 4 (24-19) before eventually succumbing to DuBois serve points losing 25-20.
They will look to improve upon their 1-5 record as they travel to local rival Penn State Beaver (1-9) on Monday September 27th @ 7 Pm.