Penn State Behrend Wins 2008 ECAC South Volleyball Championship
The Penn State Behrend volleyball team captured the 2008 ECAC Division III South Volleyball Championship, taking the title after a come-from-behind 3-2 win over runner-up Cabrini College on November 16 in Stevenson, Maryland.
The Penn State Behrend volleyball team captured the 2008 ECAC
Division III South Volleyball Championship, taking the title after
a come-from-behind 3-2 win over runner-up Cabrini College on
November 16 in Stevenson, Maryland. Behrend (25-9) dropped a
tight first game 24-26, before bouncing back for a 25-21 win in the
second. Cabrini (22-14) answered with a 25-21 win of its own
in the third game before Behrend took the fourth 25-19 to set up
the winner-take-all fifth game. The deciding game was tied
8-8 before the blue and white exploded for a 7-1 run to close it
out, clinching the title with a 15-9 win and starting the
celebration.
Senior defensive specialist Brittany Hennessy (Hopewell/Hopewell)
closed out her career by racking up a match-high 30 digs in the
championship match. Hennessy, Behrend's all-time leader in
digs with 2,160 in her career, was awarded the ECAC Most
Outstanding Player award for the tournament. Junior Brooke
Gallentine (Mt. Pleasant/Southmoreland) dished out a season-high 51
assists, to go with ten digs and three aces, with a big ace at the
end of game five.
Freshman Lauren Dalton (Cochranton/Cochranton) hammered 15 kills in
the match, including four winners in the fifth game. Junior
hitters Carissa Johnston (Cambridge Springs/Cambridge Springs) and
Sheila Ogden (Grove City/Grove City) were a big part of the offense
as Johnston had 12 kills and Ogden had 11 kills in the final.
Sophomore Danielle Woods (Pittsburgh/Baldwin) played huge down the
stretch and totaled ten kills with 17 digs against the
Cavaliers. Freshmen Liz Emerick (Hopewell/Hopewell) and
Stefanie Kelley (Moon Township/Moon) came through with key plays
and combined for 23 digs and six aces.
One day earlier, in the ECAC semifinal match on November 15, #3
seed Behrend cruised past #2 seed Widener 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-18)
hitting .270 as a team. Freshman Danielle Kindle
(Erie/McDowell) smashed eight kills on 16 attempts with zero errors
and also tallied five blocks. Johnston had ten kills to go
with six blocks of her own, while Hennessy finished with 23
digs. Freshman Kait Bianco (Aliquippa/Center) smacked five
kills on ten attempts in the win over Widener (26-10).
In the second semifinal #4 seed Cabrini College upset host and #1
seed Stevenson University with a 3-0 win (25-20, 25-23, 25-22) to
set up the championship contest with the Behrend Lions.
The ECAC volleyball championship is the first for the Penn State
Behrend volleyball program, and this was the team's second ever
tournament appearance. In 2006, the blue and white won a
school-record 29 matches and went 2-1 in the ECAC South
Championship to finish as the runners-up.