MILLERSVILLE, Pa.- Following a pair of important victories over PSAC rivals East Stroudsburg and Kutztown last weekend, the West Chester women's volleyball team (16-5, 6-2 PSAC) returned to action on Friday night on the road at PSAC rival Millersville. West Chester captured the first two sets en route to a 3-1 (25-15, 25-15, 19-25, 25-10) victory.
After trading points to open the first set, West Chester went on a run, which allowed the Golden Rams to pull away enough to take a commanding 22-14 lead late in the set en route to the 25-15 first set victory.
After a first set, which saw them hit an impressive .433, West Chester got off to a similarly hot start in the second set as the Golden Rams jumped out to an early 7-0 lead, with an impressive .500 hitting percentage in the early stages of the set. This quick start forced Millersville to burn an early timeout as the Marauders looked to halt the Golden Rams early momentum. The timeout had its desired impact, at least initially, as Millersville countered with two quick points of its own to halt the Golden Ram run before trading points to make the score 10-4 in favor of West Chester. From this point, West Chester went on a 7-5 run to take a 17-9 lead late in the second set, which prompted Millersville to take its second timeout of the match. Following this timeout, West Chester went on a 3-0 run of its own to move the score to 20-9 in favor of the Purple and Gold. Millersville attempted to mount a comeback late in the set but West Chester closed out the second set victory by a final of 25-15 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
In the third set, Millersville opened with a 4-0 run, thanks in part to a handful of attack errors by the Golden Rams before West Chester answered back with a 5-1 run to make the score 6-5 in favor of the Marauders. Millersville and West Chester traded points but it was the host Marauders who were able to open up a 16-11 lead midway through the third set. Millersville extended its lead to 20-12 entering the late stages of the set before West Chester went to work on a comeback effort, making the score 21-18 late in the set. Unfortunately, the West Chester comeback effort fell just short as Millersville escaped with a 25-19 third set victory to force a fourth set.
West Chester and Millersville opened the fourth set trading points throughout much of the early going, with the Golden Rams holding a slim 10-7 lead in the fourth set. From this point, West Chester went on a quick 8-0 run to take a 18-7 lead midway through the set. The Golden Rams used this impressive run to roll to the 25-10 fourth set victory.
Julia Vreeswyk (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) ended the match with the team lead in kills once again with 12 while
Maria Harding (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth) joined her in double figures with 10 kills of her own in the victory. Vreeswyk also ended her night second on the team in hitting percentage at .355, which helped West Chester record a .231 hitting percentage as a team.
Reigning PSAC East Athlete of the Week,
Jamie Byrne (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) also turned in a 36-assist effort while also tying for the team lead in aces with two in the victory.
Sydney Heffner (Bath, Pa./Northampton) led the way for West Chester in digs with 20 in the four set victory.
West Chester returns to action tomorrow afternoon at home vs non-league foe Lincoln with that match set to begin at 2 p.m.
