By Mel Barracto, Staff Writer
Susquehanna women’s volleyball defeated nationally ranked Mary Washington last weekend with a 3-1 victory in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Mary Washington came into the game ranked seventh in the country according to the AVCA National Poll.
After having lost 3-0 to Berry College with match scores of 25-13, 25-18, and 25-10, the River Hawks came back to defeat Mary Washington’s team in set scores of 25-21, 23-25, 25- 18 and 25-23.
Senior Morgan Lowe finished the game with 16 kills and a total of 45 on the weekend. Sophomore Hannah Lyons added 13 kills of her own in the Mary Washington game and 19 total for the weekend.
Freshman Sydney Portale added 8 kills and sophomore Natalie Arm and junior Tara Mahoney both had 6 kills apiece in the game against Mary Washington.
Freshman Gabby Davis had 44 assists in the game and Caroline Beohm added 2 of her own. Beohm also had 14 digs as did Lowe. Freshman Lizzie Herestofa had 12 digs and sophomore Kasey Bost had 7 digs of her own.
This game puts Susquehanna at a record of 4-4 as they previously defeated UMass-Boston, Randolph-Macon, and Hardin-Simmons and lost to Mary Hardin-Baylor, Texas-Tyler, Averett along with their loss to Berry College the day before.
After such a successful season last year, head Coach Kuuipo Tom is happy with how the team is performing but would like to see a little more consistency in upcoming matches.
“We’ve been trying to work with several different combinations to see what stays consistent,” Coach Tom said.
“One thing we are very consistent with is Morgan Lowe,” he later said of the talented senior from Lancaster, PA.
“When we are having our- selves some struggles she’s a good go-to person that helps us get through the hard times,” Coach Tom said.
Lowe also picked up the Landmark Conference Volleyball Player of the Week thanks to her 20 kill performance in both the Randolph-Macon game and Averett game on Friday and her strong game against Mary Washington.
The River Hawks also played in their home opener this on Wednesday against Dickinson, where they picked up a 3-0 win.
Susquehanna got the sweep with set scores of 25-18, 25-16 and 25-17.
Lowe led the team with 13 kills, while Lyons contributed nine of her own alongside a .562 hitting percentage.
Freshman Helen Forman led the team with 21 assists and Herestofa added nine digs.
Every player on the Susquehanna team saw game time in the route, although none of the sets were blowouts.
A big reason that Susquehanna was able to win was due to their strong defense, as they held Dickinson to an abysmal -.011 hitting percentage and added six blocks.
The River Hawks will be back in action on Friday as they start the annual Hampton Inn River Hawk Classic.
Last year, Susquehanna had a strong showing at the tournament, taking three out of the four games with their only loss coming at the hands of Geneva, who beat them in a five-set slugfest 3-2.
This year, the River Hawks will first face Stevenson on Friday in the 7 p.m. match, and will play Carnegie Mellon and Brockport on Saturday.
The Carnegie Mellon match starts at 12 p.m. while the Brockport match will conclude the tournament at 6 p.m.
The tournament will not be an easy one for the River Hawks as two of their opponents, Stevenson and Carnegie Mellon, currently have unbeaten records and Carneigie Mellon is also the #24 ranked team in the country.
Stevenson sits at 10-0 currently after defeating Mary- mount (Va.) 3-0 with set scores of 27-25, 25-19 and 28-26.
Carnegie Mellon on the other hand is coming off two wins on Sept.9. The first win came over N.C. Wesleyan 3-0 and the second came over Hiram 3-1. The team also has an impressive road win this season over #22 Ohio Northern, where they beat them 3-2.
Sophomore Kayla Yew were honored by the Eastern College Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week. Yew led the team with 84 digs over the four matches that the Tartans played that week.
Brockport is also no slouch this season either. The team currently sits at 6-4 on the season but three of those losses have come at the hands of nationally- ranked DIII powerhouses. They also currently ride a three-game win streak into the tournament.
If Susquehanna can come out of the tournament with a 3-0 record, it could potentially jump them up in the national volleyball rankings.
