Mont Alto, York Advance to PSUAC Volleyball Championship for Second Straight Year

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - It was a spirit filled evening on Monday night in Rec Hall as the PSUAC hosted two semifinal matches in its Volleyball Championship tournament. Defending champion Penn State Mont Alto survived a challenge from Penn State Hazleton in five sets in the first semifinal, while Penn State York cruised to a three-set victory over Penn State Fayette in the nightcap at Rec Hall on the University Park campus.

Mont Alto and York will meet once again in the PSUAC Volleyball Championship match on Tuesday, a rematch of 2022. The teams played earlier this season with Mont Alto coming away with a 3-1 win. The title tilt is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. in Rec Hall and will be broadcast live on the PSU Campus Athletics Network.

Semifinal #1, 5:00 p.m. 

West #1 Penn State Mont Alto - 3, East #2 Penn State Hazleton - 2

Mont Alto entered the evening as a solid favorite to repeat as PSUAC champions. A strong 12-0 campaign in the PSUAC, along with a 19-2 stretch to finish the season, made them an almost obvious pick to return to the PSUAC Championship game. But that return to the championship was anything but easy as Hazleton gave the defending PSUAC and USCAA champs everything they could handle.

In the end, however, Mont Alto prevailed in a thrilling five set match (23-25, 25-21, 25-27, 25-14, 15-13) and punched their ticket to Rec Hall on Tuesday night. West Division Player of the Year Gracie Vaughn led the way for Mont Alto with 17 kills and 11 blocks while Kylie Denlinger added 52 assists. Leslie Huckle and Elizabeth Trella finished with 13 and 11 kills, respectively, to join Vaughn in double digits.

Hazleton's Sydney Mack did everything she could to push Hazleton over the hump, finishing with a match-high 28 kills while hitting .300 on the night. East Specialist of the Year Sophia Del Vacchio dished out 54 assists and Kaytlin Kelley added 13 kills.

Hazleton outhit Mont Alto in three sets, including the last set, but was unable to close the door. Hazleton grabbed an early 4-0 lead in the final set before Mont Alto made a run of its own to tie the score at 5, 6 and 9. Hazleton would eventually lead 13-10 before Vaughn carried Mont Alto with multiple kills as the victors took five straight points to win the match.

The entire match went back and forth, and with the expection of the fourth set, saw late ties and close sets throughout and easily became one of the best semifinal matches in recent history in the process.

Semifinal #2, 7:00 p.m.

East #1 Penn State York - 3, West #2 Penn State Fayette - 0

Penn State York was on a mission to create a rematch of last year's title game. They were successful in dispatching Penn State Fayette from the PSUAC Volleyball playoffs with a three-set sweep of the perennial power. The win sets up the second straight year we'll see York face Mont Alto, and the third straight championship game between the two after they met twice last year--once in the PSUAC and once in the USCAA National Championship match. 

The East Division Player of the Year Jess Dunbar showed why she earned the accolades, finishing with a match-best 16 kills. Teammate Jayda Simmons, the East Specialist of the Year notched 23 digs for York while Olivia Giltner added eight kills.

Fayette was led by Kamden Miller with seven kills but the West's no. 2 seed was unable to get much going offensively as York stayed on the attack. Fayette hit just .080 on the night, and while they won the battle at the net with 11 blocks to York's six, the rest of the offense never got moving. York never let Fayette grab a lead bigger than three, and used big runs all night to thwart a talented Fayette team. 

York now looks to win its first PSUAC Volleyball title in its history, and it only has to pass its greatest recent foe to do it.