BOX SCORE
Haverford, PA (November 8, 2007) – The storybook season for the DeSales University volleyball team came to a close on Thursday evening in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament as the Bulldogs fell to 16th ranked Haverford College, 3-0 (30-15, 30-15, 30-23), in front of a capacity crowd.
The Bulldogs fell behind early in the first game as HC jumped out to a 5-0 lead before three consecutive service aces from freshman Kylie Fehnel (Nazareth, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) cut the score to 11-8 midway thru the game. The Fords answered the DSU run with an 11-4 to push the score to 22-12 and out scored DeSales 19-7 to finish game one.
The second game started out tight but a quick 7-1 run by Haverford gave the hosts an 11-4 edge and the Bulldogs were unable to recover falling into a 2-0 hole in the match.
Refusing to quit DSU showed tremendous heart taking an early lead and continuing to control the scoreboard with a 14-12 edge midway thru. Haverford caught fire at that point with seven straight points to take a 19-14 lead, while DeSales continued to fight getting within three points several times but were never able to regain control.
Sophomore Jen Mellon (Media, PA/Penncrest) led the attack with nine kills, while Fehnel added seven kills and eight digs. Sophomore Kerri Andrews (Bethlehem, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) once again played a tremendous defensive game with a game-high 18 digs and freshman Alyssa Poplaski (Mechanicsburg, PA/Mechanicsburg) had a solid match with 13 digs.
Junior Ashley Grube (Orwigsburg, PA/Blue Mountain) had six kills and fellow junior Sharon Uliana (Fleetwood, PA/Reading Central Catholic) finished with 27 assists in the loss.
DSU finishes its season with a 21-10 overall record. DeSales won its first-ever Freedom Conference championship last week to earn the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament which marked just the second appearance in the “big dance” for the Bulldog volleyball program.
