By Melissa Barracato Staff writer
Susquehanna women’s volleyball team made history as the program’s most winning team as they defeated Catholic 3-0 on Nov. 2.
The win advanced them to a spot in the conference championship, where they lost to Juniata. The three sets against Catholic ended at 26-24, 25-23, and 25-18 respectively.
The first set was tied a total of twelve times, but it finished in a victory for Susquehanna after Catholic had an offensive error to end it at 26-24. The second set started out strong for the River Hawks at 11-5 until the Cardinals tallied five unanswered points.
The River Hawks then led 12-10 until senior setter Erin Bryne stepped in with a kill to make it a three-point lead.
The Cardinals tied the game at 15 and even took a brief two-point lead until senior outside hitter Marykate Sherkness tied the game at 19, and from there the game tied four more times until back-to-back points got the win for Susquehanna.
The third set ended at 25- 18 after a seven-point run by Susquehanna and several good plays throughout the match to end it.
Game leaders include junior outside hitter Morgan Lowe at 20 kills, Sherkness with 12 and Bryne, who finished with eight. Senior setter Maggie O’Hearn added 40 assists, while freshman outside hitter Caroline Beohm had 22 digs, senior defensive specialist Alyssa Chiodo added 15 and Lowe contributed 10. Senior middle hitter Leana Carvin chipped in with three blocks.
“They’ve been performing great throughout the season. Specifically with the Catholic game we knew if we could get the ball out to our pin hitters then we could beat [Catholic’s] defense,” Head Coach Tom Kuuipo said. “Having those three offensives weapons is paramount to the success throughout our season.”
Overall, Susquehanna has been consistent for the most part throughout the fall season.
This year’s seniors are the only class to make it to the championship game for all four years of their college careers, a noteworthy statistic among college athletics.
“They are the winningest team by numbers and they are the winningest team by percentage,” Kuuipo said.
Despite the loss in the conference championship, Susquehanna earned an at-large bid to enter the NCAA tournament. Out of the 64 teams to enter, 21, including Susquehanna this year, are invited into the tournament by the national committee. Susquehanna and Juniata are the only Landmark teams that were chosen to play in the tournament. This is the first time in program history that Susquehanna will be entering the tournament to compete.
“It was the best feeling ever,” Kuuipo said about learning the team had been invited to the tournament.
Susquehanna will face Clarkson at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 11 at Rockport to start their journey in the first round of the tournament.
Lowe and Bryne were named All-Region players by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. Bryne was named to the North Region First Team, and Lowe was an Honorable Mention.
Bryne, who was named to the All-Landmark Conference First Team for the fourth time in her career earlier this month, currently leads the team in attack percentage at .331 and is second in kills at 349 and blocks at 66.
Lowe leads the team in kills at 402, kills per set at 3.27 and total attempts at 1164. She was also named to the All-Landmark Conference First Team.
