BLOOMSBURG, Pa.- Hailey Lewis (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) led West Chester (18-7, 6-4 PSAC) with 11 kills while freshman teammate
Elise Smith (New Market, Md./Oakdale) logged 10 kills of her own to help lead the Golden Rams past Bloomsburg (5-18, 3-7) by a 3-1 (25-17, 25-20, 19-25, 25-23) final score.
Tonight's victory, combined an East Stroudsburg loss vs Shippensburg this evening has moved the Golden Rams back into a tie for second entering the final two weeks of the regular season. The Golden Rams are in a three-way tie for the second spot in the standings alongside Shippensburg and East Stroudsburg at 6-4 in the PSAC East.
West Chester and Bloomsburg battled throughout the first two sets and the Golden Rams emerged victorious in each as WCU took the opening set by a 25-17 final after battling back from early deficit and the second set by a 25-20 final to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Bloomsburg showed its fight in the third set, answering back with a 25-19 victory after holding an 18-9 advantage in the late stages of the set. Uninterested in dropping another set and having the match go a full five sets, WCU answered back quickly in the fourth, jumping out to a 14-8 lead, which allowed the Golden Rams to withstand a late Bloomsburg run en route to a 25-23 fourth-set victory behind a
Abiah Lane (Ardmore, Pa./Lower Merion) kill off an assist from St. Jean to lift West Chester to a 3-1
Jamie Byrne (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) led the way in assists with 23 while freshman teammate
Megan St. Jean (Eaton, Co./Eaton) added 22 of her own while also tying with
Sydney Heffner (Bath, Pa./Northampton) for the team lead in aces with three each. In addition to her three aces, Heffner also recorded a team-high 23 digs to help lead West Chester to the victory defensively.
As a team, West Chester hit .160 on the match, including a match-best .344 in the first set while holding Bloomsburg to a .113 hitting percentage, including a pair of sub-.100 efforts in the four-set victory.
For the Huskies, Emma Antigua led the way in kills with 14, which served as a match-high while also logging a team-best two aces to keep her team in the match throughout the evening.
Up Next:
West Chester will wrap up its non-league slate on Tuesday night at home vs Wilmington ahead of a big conference weekend at home vs East Stroudsburg and Kutztown with Saturday's match vs Kutztown also serving as Senior Day for the Golden Rams.
