READING — The Penn State Berks women's volleyball team (7-8, 2-1) competed in United East competition as they hosted Penn State Brandywine (8-5, 3-0) on Saturday, October 3 on Homecoming weekend. Berks kept up the entire match with the Lions but were unable to take a set as the Nittany Lions fell to Brandywine 3-0.
Berks stayed even deep into the opening set, reaching 13-13, before Penn St. Brandywine pulled away and scored the final seven points of a 25-15 set. Earlier, Berks took the first two points on
Libby Swoyer's serve and went back in front 5-3 when
Emily Snader served an ace after a Brandywine service error. After Brandywine tied it at 6-6,
Madelyn Caris answered with a kill from
Ella Griffiths, and
Gwen Tew later tied the set at 8-8 with a kill from
Tori Schaeffer. Snader and
Delaney Gote added kills as Berks worked back to 13-13, but Brandywine moved ahead 18-14, and after a service error made it 18-15, Hailey Piccirillo had two kills during the visitors' closing run.
In the second set, the Nittany Lions saw a 9-5 lead turn when Penn St. Brandywine scored eight straight points to move ahead 13-9 and went on to take the set 25-19. Earlier, Berks answered the opening point with a
Madelyn Caris block, kills from Gote and Caris, and a Tew kill, with Gote's serve helping build the 9-5 advantage. Penn St. Brandywine's run included two service aces by Shayla Howell and several Nittany Lions errors before a Caris kill stopped the stretch. Berks later cut a 20-14 deficit to 20-17 on a Gote kill, a
Gabryella Maney ace and a combined block by Caris and
Emily Snader, and Gote added two more late kills before Penn St. Brandywine closed the set.
Berks was tied 16-16 late in the third set, but Penn St. Brandywine scored the final nine points to take the set 25-16. Earlier, the Nittany Lions recovered from a 7-4 deficit and moved ahead 9-8, getting kills from Tew,
Madelyn Caris and Gote while two Brandywine attack errors helped fuel the stretch. The back-and-forth continued through the middle of the set, with Gote and
Emily Snader converting Schaeffer assists and Snader and
Shea Leber adding kills from
Libby Swoyer. Caris' block brought Berks level at 16-16 before Penn St. Brandywine's closing push, which included three Shayla Howell service aces and kills by Howell and Lara Zima.
Gote led Berks with eight kills and added 10 digs.
Ella Griffiths collected a team-high 17 digs and added two assists. Swoyer finished with a team-high 13 assists, four digs and a kill on her only attack.
Madelyn Caris recorded five kills, nine digs and three total blocks.
WHO'S NEXT
Up next, the Nittany Lions host Penn State York on Monday, Oct. 5, at 6 p.m. at Beaver Athletics and Wellness Center in Reading, Pennsylvania.
FOLLOW US
Fans can keep up with Berks Athletics all season long on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube using the handle @BerksAthletics.
