BOX SCORE vs. Messiah
BOX SCORE vs. Widener

Dallas, PA (September 30, 2011) – The DeSales University volleyball team saw its 14-match win streak halted but the Bulldogs fought hard, despite being without its head coach, earning revenge with a three-set win over Messiah College before falling to Widener University in five sets in the Freedom/Commonwealth cross-over tri-match at Misericordia University on Friday night.

The Bulldogs (19-3) took to the road looking to tie the all-time mark for consecutive wins but were forced to do so without its head coach who unexpectedly had to miss the two matches on Friday night.  After taking the first match, 3-0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-13), over Messiah College, exacting revenge for one of its two early season losses, but ran out of gas in the second match, falling to Widener, 3-2 (21-25, 25-22, 25-16, 30-32, 11-15).

In the opener, the Bulldogs were led by senior Lauren Hickey (10 kills, 3 blocks) and sophomore Haley Petrarca (9 kills, 3 blocks.  Senior Paige Horrigan had six kills and added six blocks, freshman Julie Blessing had five blocks, and junior Justine McNulty finished with six kills, 28 assists, and 14 digs.

Junior Eden Reichard added 14 digs, sophomore Madeline Svrcek totaled 10 digs, and sophomore Emilie Baker finished with eight digs and three blocks.

In the second match, DSU dropped the first set before rebounding with wins in sets two and three.  The fourth set was epic with each team fighting off set point after set point before the Pride ended it with a 32-30 win and capitalized with a 15-11 win in the decisive fifth set.

In the loss, Reichard broke a record, recording 51 total digs, six more than Kerri Andrews, who had held the record.  Hickey totaled 17 kills and two blocks, Horrigan finished with 16 kills and two blocks, Blessing finished with 11 kills and three blocks.

McNulty finished with six kills, 52 assists, and 19 digs, Svrcek totaled 24 digs, Baker finished with 21 digs, and freshman Amanda Wallitsch had 18 digs.

DSU will look to start a new win streak on Tuesday evening when they travel to Wilkes University for a Freedom Conference match beginning at 7:00 pm.