BOX SCORE vs. St. Vincent

BOX SCORE vs. Gallaudet

Center Valley, PA (October 14, 2009) – The #1 seeded DeSales University volleyball fell just short in taking home the ECAC South Region Tournament championship, falling to the #2 seed, Gallaudet University, 3-1 (27-25, 25-18, 23-25, 25-20) in a hard fought back-and-forth affair on Saturday afternoon in Billera Hall.

The Bulldogs finish the season with a 23-9 overall record after they had defeated St. Vincent College earlier in the day to advance to the championship match by a 3-1 (15-25, 25-19, 27-25, 25-20) score. Gallaudet finishes the year with a 27-14 overall mark, taking home the ECAC South Region Championship trophy.

In the first semifinal, DSU dropped the first set but stormed back to take the second and won a hard-fought third set, 27-25, before finishing off the Lady Bearcats in four. DeSales had just seven kills and committed nine errors in the opening set but had just 13 errors over the next three sets to earn the win.

Junior Kylie Fehnel (Nazareth, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) led the attack in the win over St. Vincent with 13 kills, 14 digs, and three blocks. Seniors Jen Mellon (Media, PA/Penncrest) and Joann Rivera (Bethlehem, PA/Freedom) each added eight kills in the win.

Senior Kerri Andrews (Bethlehem, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) played well with a team-high 19 digs, freshman Eden Reichard (Mertztown, PA/Brandywine) also had a strong match with 16 digs, and freshman Justine McNulty (Collegeville, PA/Methacton) added 38 assists in the win. Andrews and Reichard each had three service aces for the Bulldogs.

In the championship match, Gallaudet took what proved to a crucial first set, 27-25, with some tremendous hitting as they pounded down 24 kills among their 27 total points. In the second set, DSU committed too many errors, seven of them, to fall 25-18, but fought hard to force a fourth set with a 25-23 win in the third. The Bulldogs fell behind early in the third set and were never able to recover as the Bison totaled 17 kills in the decisive fourth set.

Mellon was outstanding for DeSales with 17 kills and just two errors on 29 attempts for a .517 hitting percentage in the loss. Rivera added six kills, Fehnel also had six kills, and freshman Paige Horrigan (Mohnton, PA/Governor Mifflin) had six kills and no errors in the loss. Mellon and Horrigan also added five blocks each for the Bulldogs, while Fehnel finished with 20 digs and three blocks.

Reichard continued her solid play on the day with 18 digs, junior Alyssa Poplaski (Mechanicsburg, PA/Mechanicsburg) totaled 15 digs, and McNulty finished with 37 assists and a team-high 22 digs. Andrews added 11 digs from the back row.

The 23 wins mark the third straight season DSU has won 20+ matches and is the most wins for the volleyball program since the 1996 season.