MILLERSVILLE, Pa. – IUP women's volleyball split its opening day of the season at Millersville's PSAC East Kickoff Tournament, falling 3-2 to Rollins before bouncing back for a 3-1 win against Wilmington (Del.) on Friday at Pucillo Gymnasium.
Nyla Birch paced the IUP offensive attack with 23 kills over two matches, while
Lauren Valentic hit .281 over nine sets of action.
Bailey Flowerdew accounted for seven combined aces and 24 digs, while
Kat Warpinski had 51 assists on the day.
Match One – Rollins
IUP battled back from a sluggish start and a 2-0 deficit to force a fifth set, but could not complete the reverse sweep in the season opener against Rollins. Working in several new faces and shaking off some rust, IUP eventually found a groove in the middle stages of the match.
Rollins (1-0) took the match in set scores of 25-19, 25-16, 16-25, 23-25, 15-9, hitting a blistering .316 in the opening set. Birch led IUP (0-1) with 13 kills in her debut as a Crimson Hawk. Warpinski dealt out 20 assists and four IUP players had at least five kills in the contest.
Rollins scored the opening four points of the match, expanding the lead to 20-13 after IUP battled back. A five-point stretch, fueled by Rollins attack errors, brought IUP back even before dropping the opening set. The Tars never trailed in the second set after an 11-5 run, later closing the set with each of the last five points.
A quick 5-0 spurt provided IUP with some much-needed momentum in the third set. The run included kills for Birch and
Grace Mangapora for a 9-5 advantage. Mangapora followed it up with a service ace later in the stanza, one of seven total in the frame for the Crimson Hawks. Valentic kickstarted a three-point stretch with a kill before
Audrey Torres and Birch smacked down kills of their own in the final flurry, part of a 25-16 set win.
Things were tightly contested for both sides in the fourth set until IUP created some separation at 17-12. Kills for Torres, Mangapora and
Caroline Walsh helped IUP pull ahead just enough, staving off a final push from Rollins and extending the contest into a fifth set.
Rollins did not look back from a quick start in the deciding set, opening up a 6-1 advantage on four IUP attack errors. IUP trimmed the deficit to three on multiple occasions, but could not get back within striking distance.
Match Two – Wilmington (Del.)
Jumping right back into action, IUP (1-1) used a strong start and a balanced approach with identical 25-20 victories in the first two sets. With neither side hitting the ball particularly accurate, the contest was close for large chunks.
The Crimson Hawks won the match in set scores of 25-20, 25-20, 26-28 and 25-22.
IUP used a balanced attack, with five players recording at least nine kills. Among those individuals were
Delaney Concannon and Birch, who posted 10 kills apiece. Walsh had nine kills and six block assists, while Flowerdew posted five aces and 16 digs.
IUP was outstanding at the service line with 13 aces against the Wildcats. Warpinski handed out 31 assists and
Hannah Simmons added eight more with five digs and two aces.
Falling behind 3-0 in the first set, IUP took its first lead against Wilmington at 6-5 following an ace from Simmons. Wilmington battled back before IUP grabbed the early lead with a 6-1 stretch to close out the frame for a 25-20 triumph.
Again, Wilmington used a quick start in the second set with a 5-0 edge before the Crimson Hawks methodically chipped away.
Karli Edwards worked IUP back within one at 8-7 with an ace. Mangapora launched a kill for a 15-14 IUP advantage, one the Hawks would not relinquish despite several ties down the stretch. A late five-point scoring run pushed IUP to yet another 25-20 set win and a 2-0 lead in the contest.
With the teams trading points at the onset of the third set, Wilmington expanded its lead to 10-7 before stretching it to 15-10. The Hawks showed resiliency once again, working the score tied at 15 and 17 apiece. IUP held off set point from Wilmington on four occasions before Wildcats extended the match with a 28-26 set victory.
The Hawks began the fourth set with a 9-4 edge, which included a block from the duo of
Simay Memisoglu and Walsh. IUP maintained a lead that hovered around four into the middle stages of the frame, looking to close out the match. Concannon lifted IUP to an 18-13 lead with her team-high 10th kill of the match.
Wilmington sliced the gap late in the fourth set, using three straight points while trailing 20-18. The Wildcats eventually tied up the fourth set at 22 but IUP continued its dominance at the service line as
Karli Edwards closed out the win with an ace for a 25-22 set win.
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