MILLERSVILLE, Pa.- Senior
Hailey Lewis (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East) turned in a huge performance on Tuesday evening, registering a career-high 19 kills with just two errors on 30 attacks for a stellar .567 hitting percentage to lead West Chester (11-1, 1-0 PSAC) to a 3-1 victory Millersville (7-6, 0-1 PSAC) on the road to open league action.
This 19-kill effort by Lewis ranks her in a tie for second in the PSAC for the most kills in a four-set match this season, tied with Sam Deinek from Gannon and Paige Cole from Seton Hill. Lewis and
Brynn Dreisbach (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) were the two Golden Rams who finished the match with double-digit kills as Dreisbach added 10 of her own while
Tori Wright (King of Prussia, Pa./Upper Merion) finished with nine kills of her own in the victory.
As a team, West Chester hit .190 in the victory thanks in large part to a first-set effort, which saw the team hit .314 while holding Millersville to a .067 hitting percentage on the match, including a pair of negative hitting efforts in the first and second sets.
West Chester and Millersville traded points throughout much of the first set but it was West Chester who used a 8-0 run midway through the set to grab control and eventually earn a 25-18 first set victory and take a 1-0 lead in the match.
In the second set, Millersville jumped out to an early lead but it was West Chester who held a commanding lead midway through the set after a 9-0 run allowed the Purple and Gold to take a 10-3 lead over the Marauders in the set. Millersville mounted a brief comeback in the set but a 6-0 run by the Golden Rams later in the set allowed the Purple and Gold to cruise to a 25-17 second set victory and a 2-0 lead in the match.
Millersville opened the third set with an early lead once again before the Golden Rams countered with a run of their own to take an 11-9 lead following
Hailey Lewis (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West). The Marauders countered quickly with a 4-0 run of their own to take a 13-11 lead midway through the third set. Millersville used this momentum to take a 17-12 lead late in the set before West Chester began the process of mounting a comeback of its own, eventually trimming the deficit to 18-15 before Millersville was able to halt the run with three quick points of its own to take a 21-15 lead late in the set en route to a 25-20 third set victory to extend the match.
West Chester wasted little time in the fourth set jumping out to a lead, taking a 10-7 lead before a 6-3 run from Millersville moved the score to 13-13 midway through the set. West Chester countered with a 3-0 run of its own to pull back out in front and prompt a Millersville timeout. Following the timeout, West Chester extended its lead to 17-13 thanks to Lewis's 17th kill of the evening before Millersville got a point back with a quick kill of its own to make the score 17-14. This sparked a run by the Marauders, which saw them draw back to within one, making the score 17-16 before a bad set gave the Golden Rams a little more breathing room at 18-16. West Chester eventually stretched its lead to 22-18, prompting the second and final Millersville timeout of the set. The second timeout had its desired impact initially as Millersville took the next two points, leading to a West Chester timeout with a 22-20 lead. The West Chester timeout did its job as well as the Golden Rams took three of the next five points, including the 19th kill of the night by Lewis to close out the fourth set with a 25-22 victory and take the match by a 3-1 final.
Reigning PSAC East Athlete of the Week,
Jamie Byrne (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) set a new season-high for assists with 41, surpassing her previous season-high of 40, which she set against Frostburg State inside Pucillo Gymnasium earlier this season. Defensively, West Chester had four players in double figures for digs led by Dreisbach with 15, giving the freshman her fourth double-double of the year.
Sydney Heffner (Bath, Pa./Northampton) was close behind with 14 digs of her own while
Ali Miller (Enola, Pa./Cumberland Valley) and
Jillian Borgerding (Highlands Ranch, Co./Highlands Ranch) registered 13 and 11 digs, respectively.
Up Next:
West Chester returns to action next Friday evening at home against Lock Haven beginning at 7 p.m.
