GREENVILLE, Pa. (Sept. 17) -- The Thiel College Women's Volleyball team opened Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play with a resounding sweep of Westminster College in front of a packed house from Maenpa Court at Beeghly Gymnasium Wednesday evening.
The Tomcats rise to 6-3 and 1-0 in league play while the Titans dip to 7-5 overall and 0-1 in the PAC.
Trailing 18-11 in set three, Thiel posted 5 straight points with
Carlie Reynolds (Grove City, Pa./Grove City Area) on the service line to get within 18-16. A 3-1 Titans run pushed the lead back to 4 at 21-17, but a 6-0 Thiel run capped with an
Arin DeLattre (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield) kill gave Thiel a 23-21 edge. A Westminster sideout preceded back-to-back Thiel points, the last of which came on a
Kylee Jordan (Orrville, Ohio/Waynedale)-DeLattre combo block to seal the match.
In total, the Tomcats closed the set on a 14-4 run in route to the conference-opening win. The Tomcats held the Titans to .034 hitting in the set.
DeLattre hit a career-best .500 from the middle as she posted 10 kills along with a match-leading four blocks (1 solo, 3 assisted).
Reynolds logged match bests in assists (38), digs (13) and aces (three) for her team-best sixth double-double of the season. Jordan added six kills from the left pin along with four digs.
Thiel opened the match with an 11-2 run as
Daisy Jenness (Pendleton, Ore./Pendleton) logged four kills in the run. Westnminster got within 7 at 20-13 before Thiel went on a 4-0 run to have 11 set-point chances as Jenness sealed the frame with a kill.
Jenness contributed a match-leading 13 kills on 31 swings to go with six digs along with one block.
Lyndzee Amory (Edinboro, Pa./Saegertown) tallied 3 straight points as Thiel led 8-7 in set two. A
Caitlin Stephens (West Middlesex, Pa./West Middlesex) kill spearheaded a 3-0 Thiel spurt that put the Tomcats ahead 16-15. Tied at 19, a 4-0 Thiel run capped with a DeLattre-Reynolds block put the Tomcats ahead 23-19. Westminster got within 1 at 23-22 and 24-23, but kills from Jordan and DeLattre sealed the set for Thiel.
Set two saw 12 ties and five lead changes as Thiel hit .324 in the frame and held Westminster under .200 (.154).
Amory put up a season-best nine kills on a career-high .412 hitting to go with four blocks. Stephens added four kills in the middle on .375 along with a trio of block assists.
Defensively, Thiel held the edge in digs (51-41) as
Danielle Aulet (Lawrence, Kan./Mineral Ridge) had 10 from the libero spot. Aulet added a pair of aces.
Sarah Wilson (Rural Valley, Pa./West Shamokin) added a career-best five while
Alex Ball (Clymer, Pa./Indiana Area) dug four. The Tomcats had a slight edge at the night with seven total blocks to the Titans' six.
Offensively, Thiel hit .272 and held Westminster to .114.
The Tomcats return to action Saturday at Grove City in another PAC match beginning at 1 p.m.
