BOX SCORE
Center Valley, PA (October 24, 2007) – The DeSales University volleyball team completed step one in a season full of lofty goals earning the #1 seed in the Freedom Conference playoffs next week by finishing the regular season with a perfect 6-0 conference mark with a 3-2 win over previous unbeaten FDU-Florham in front of a boisterous crowd in Billera Hall on Wednesday evening.
It has been quite some time that Billera Hall hosted a volleyball match with the kind of energy felt inside its cozy confines Wednesday evening as those in attendance witnessed lots of goose bumps, lots of spectacular plays and lots of momentum changes. The Bulldogs rallied from a 2-1 deficit to pull out a 26-30, 30-28, 20-30, 30-25, 16-14 win to improve its record to 19-7 overall and 6-0 in the Freedom, while the Devils of FDU-Florham fall to 26-10 overall and 5-1 in the Freedom.
A back and forth affair saw the Devils take an early lead in game one and holding on late for a 30-26 win. DSU had erased an early deficit to tie the game at 24 but the Devils finished the first game on a 6-2 spurt to earn the win. The second game was another see-saw battle with DeSales taking control late and pulling out a hard-fought 30-28 decision.
The third game was all Devils as they jumped out to a 9-1 lead and cruised 30-20 but the Bulldogs returned the favor in game four taking 19-9 early lead and holding off a late FDU rally to win 30-25. The fifth game was one for the ages as DeSales led 3-0 only to see FDU pull within 4-4. Tied at seven, DSU scored five of the next six points to lead 12-8 and were in control 14-11 with the Devils serving needing just a side out to win. FDU had other plans with three straight points to tie the game at 14 but DSU earned the next point and served out the game-winner to record the 16-14 win.
One of several heroes for DeSales was sophomore libero Kerri Andrews (Bethlehem, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) who took every attack the Devils would throw at her and managed to keep several of them in play as she finished the match with a school-record 45 digs despite some game five sickness that saw her miss just one play.
Offensively four different Bulldogs recorded double digit kills including freshman Kylie Fehnel (Nazareth, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) with a team-high 19 kills and 25 digs. Junior Joann Rivera (Bethlehem, PA/Freedom) finished with 17 kills and nine digs, sophomore Jen Mellon (Media, PA/Penncrest) had 16 kills and just four errors and junior Ashley Grube (Orwigsburg, PA/Blue Mountain) finished 12 kills and two blocks.
Junior Sharon Uliana (Fleetwood, PA/Reading Central Catholic) had a career-high 60 assists and added 17 digs, while senior Allie Boyer (Douglassville, PA/Daniel Boone) totaled 17 digs and freshman Alyssa Poplaski (Mechanicsburg, PA/Mechanicsburg) totaled 14 digs. Freshman Lauren Pacenta (Pottsville, PA/Nativity BVM) also chipped in with five kills.
For the Devils senior Holly Farricy was sensational with 14 kills and 32 digs, senior Christa SanFilippo had a team-high 17 kills and freshman Lauren Brazier and sophomore Meghan Droge combined for 30 kills and 17 blocks up front.
The Bulldogs will conclude its regular season on Saturday when they travel to Neumann College for a tri-match with Richard Stockton College beginning at 11:0 am.
