WVB lineup vs semis
Shane Gleason/Jonathan Morello
3
Winner Morrisville St. MORWVB 17-11
2
Penn State Berks PSBW 17-15
Winner
Morrisville St. MORWVB
17-11
3
Final
2
Penn State Berks PSBW
17-15
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 5 F
Morrisville St. MORWVB 18 25 18 25 15 (3)
Penn State Berks PSBW 25 16 25 15 12 (2)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball |

Women's volleyball drops heartbreaker in semifinals

READING, PA - The Penn State Berks women's volleyball team saw its season come to an end after dropping a 3-2 heartbreaker to SUNY Morrisville in a United East Semifinal round contest on Friday evening at Beaver Gym.

The Nittany Lions took the opening game 25-18, but Morrisville countered with a 25-16 triumph in the second. Berks again won by a score of 25-18 in the third, before the Mustangs picked up a 25-15 win to force a decisive fifth set. In the fifth set, Morrisville jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but the Nittany Lions rattled off four straight points to pull within 5-4. From there the teams alternated scoring until Berks made it 8-8. Morrisville scored in bunches to go ahead 13-9, but Berks kept fighting got back to within two points (14-12). The game to an end when Kirsten Florio drove home her 18th kill of the evening to send the No. 4 seed Mustangs into the conference title game for the fourth straight season.

Makenzie Shoop finished with a team-best 11 kills, while Sarah Nichols followed with nine and Kayla Zelonka had eight. Julia Rathsam handed out 29 assists and finished with 12 digs, which was tied with Natalia Perez and Marie Durkota. Cassie Shoupe followed them with 11 digs. As a team, the Nittany Lions collected 14 service aces, led by Madison Hetrick with six, followed by Shoupe with four and Rathsam and Perez with two a piece. Shoupe recorded a pair of solo blocks, while Nichols assisted on two blocks.

The Nittany Lions finished the season with a 17-15 overall record and went 8-0 in the United East to claim the regular season championship title for the third time in program history. The team racked up plenty of conference postseason awards led by Durkota (Defensive Player of the Year) and Jessie Franko (Coach of the Year). They also had three members on the all-conference first team (Rathsam, Durkota, Shoupe) and one on the second team (Zelonka).

Berks will bid farewell to the senior duo of Durkota and Hetrick, who have etched their names in the record books. Durkota ranks ninth all-time in career digs with 705, while Hetrick is ninth in career aces (79), sets played (236), and matches played (79). With a core group of players set to return, as well as the recruiting class and transfers brought in by Franko, the Nittany Lions will look to return to the conference tournament and more in 2022.
 
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