WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The West Chester University women's volleyball team (14-5, 4-3) is eager to return to the court this week as the Golden Rams look to halt their two-game losing streak from last weekend. West Chester will not play this coming weekend but will play twice in the middle of the week instead beginning with a Wednesday night PSAC tilt at Millersville (5-15) beginning at 6 p.m. before visiting Wilmington (13-8) for a non-league bout on Thursday at 7 p.m.
West Chester at Millersville
Match Details: October 22 I 6 P.M.
Location: Pucillo Gymnasium (Millersville, Pa.)
Series: 36-33
Coverage Links: Live Stats I
Video
WCU Links: NEWS I
ROSTER I
SCHEDULE I
STATS
Ville Links: NEWS I
ROSTER I
SCHEDULE I
STATS
West Chester at Wilmington
Match Details: October 23 I 7 P.M.
Location: Wilmington Athletics Complex (Wilmington, Del.)
Series: 5-4
Coverage Links: Live Stats I
Video
WILMU Links: NEWS I
ROSTER I
SCHEDULE I
STATS
Last Time Out
West Chester wrapped up its two-week homestand last weekend against Shippensburg and Shepherd, dropping both matches by 3-1 finals. On Friday night against Shippensburg, West Chester battled early and nearly won the first set (25-22 SHIP) before winning the second 25-23 to tie the match at 1-1. Shippensburg captured the next two sets by 25-17 and 25-18 finals to escape Hollinger with a 3-1 win, despite a 12 kill effort from
Abiah Lane (Ardmore, Pa./Lower Merion). On Saturday against Shepherd, West Chester dropped the first two sets (25-21, 25-22) before winning the third 25-17 and getting to set point (24-21) in the fourth. Unfortunately, Shepherd halted any thought of a five-set thriller in the fourth set, closing the match out on a 5-0 run to win 26-24 and win the match by a 3-1 final.
Zoe Haines (York, Pa./York Suburban) led West Chester in kills with 13 while
Maeve Gallagher (Pottstown, Pa./Pope John Paul II) finished with 10.
Lacie Brown (Cochranville, Pa./Avon Grove) led West Chester in assists (38), aces (seven), and blocks (three), while also posting seven digs, which was second best on the team.
Flock Talk
Haines leads West Chester in kills with 200 and is second on the team in blocks with 40, trailing only
Julia Kwitchoff (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Niagara Wheatfield) who has 55 blocks and 121 kills on the season. Lane is second on the team in ills with 193 and is also second in assists with 154 and third in aces with 24. Brown catapulted herself into first on the team in aces on Sat urday with her seven, which increased her total to 34, while
Megan Wolfe (Pine Grove, Pa./Pine Grove) remains second with 27. Brown also leads West Chester in assists with 631.
Elianna Freeman (Jersey Village, Tx./Jersey Village) continues to lead West Chester in digs with 179 followed by Lane (154) and Brown (153).
This Feels Different
West Chester enters the week in the midst of its longest losing streak of the season at two games. A two-game losing being the longest losing streak of your season to date in late October is quite impressive but it is still a streak that head coach
Kassie Bellaver and the Golden Rams would love nothing more than to halt as quickly as it began.
Road Warriors
After a two-week, five-match homestand, West Chester will venture out on the road this week and remain away from Hollinger Field House until a November 5 match with Pace, which will be the first of three home games that week. Prior to its matchup against the Setters, West Chester will visit Millersville and Wilmington this week before heading to Shippensburg and Shepherd on October 31 and November 1.
Series History
West Chester improved to 36-33 against Millersville earlier in September with a dominant 3-0 win over the Marauders. With this victory, West Chester now has a 25-9 lead in the series since 2007 and a 6-4 advantage in the last 10 meetings.
Against Wilmington, West Chester is 5-4 since 2007 but has dropped each of the last three meetings, winning just one set in those three clashes. West Chester is 3-1 at Wilmington, including a 3-2 win over the Wildcats in September 2023.
Scouting Millersville
Millersville (5-15, 1-6) finds itself in an unenviable position in late October as the Marauders are just 5-15 overall after starting the year 3-1 and 1-6 in league play, including a sweep by Shepherd and Shippensburg over the weekend. Millersville earned its first win in October on October 11 over Bloomsburg, which was its first victory since a 3-0 win over Lincoln on September 17.
Taylor Welter leads Millersville in kills with 211 while Becca Hartranft is first in aces with 31. Caroline Halsey leads the team in blocks with 37 and is second in aces with 18, while her 83 kills is fourth best. Hartranft also leads Millersville in digs with 297 while Trinity Baldwin is first in assists (391) and second in digs (134).
Scouting Wilmington
Wilmington (13-8) enters play this week riding a two-game winning streak heading into a conference matchup against Georgian Court on Tuesday night. The Wildcats are 7-1 in league play so far this year and 7-2 in the Wilmington Athletics Complex both of which they will be hoping to improve upon when Georgian Court comes to town on Tuesday evening.
Karla Nunez-Rivera and Eliza Schneider are first and second on the team in kills with 227 and 220 as their excellent sophomore campaigns continue. Nunez-Rivera also has 26 aces and 159 digs to her credit. Haley Holland and Morgan Daniels are first and second on the team in aces with 34 and 31 while Daniels leads the team in digs with 238. Christine Covello is first on the team in assists with 418 while Cam Justus is second with 245 entering play this week.
Up Next
West Chester will have a little over a week to prepare for its next league match at Shippensburg on Halloween night beginning at 6 p.m.
