PS-Fayette hosts volleyball quarters tonight
The Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus women鈥檚 volleyball team opens the PSUAC playoffs as the top seed when it hosts Penn State Mont Alto today at 6 p.m.
Winners of 14 of its last 15 matches, the Roaring Lions (9-1, 18-7) are ranked fourth in the country in the USCAA Women鈥檚 Division 2 rankings. Penn State Fayette has won 43-of-48 sets during the run.
Head coach Sam Swetz is excited for tonight鈥檚 match.
鈥淲e are peaking at the perfect time because most of the teams in our conference are used to what they saw from us all season,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey won鈥檛 be ready for the team that has just started peaking before the playoffs.鈥�
Fayette swept both matches against Mont Alto (4-6, 11-12) this season. The Roaring Lions won in three sets by scores of 25-16, 25-14, 25-19 at home on Sept. 19. The scores were closer in the rematch at Mont Alto on Oct. 13, but Penn State Fayette still won in three sets, 25-19, 25-19, 25-20.
Swetz did not hesitate when asked about keys to picking up a win in the tournament opener.
鈥淲e just have to play Penn State Fayette volleyball,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t is as simple as that, and we need to stick to the high caliber of play that our team is intended for.
鈥淚f we stick to Fayette volleyball, we will win.鈥�
Swetz said that the team will not take Mont Alto lightly.
鈥淭hey are a tough team that has always been a team that comes alive in big games,鈥� she said.
Swetz said that it is key for Laurel Highlands grad Siteri Tale, Chanel Porter and Carmichaels鈥� Jadyn Barnish to be on their games, and for Yough grad Morgan Pytlak and Brownsville鈥檚 Kiki Martin to step up, as well.
鈥淥ur key players, stats-wise, are Siteri, Chanel and Jadyn and they need to be in sync in order to have a successful game,鈥� Swetz said. 鈥淗owever, Morgan has been such an energetic person on the court this season as a captain and Kiki has proven to be a major part of our offense this season coming alive in big games.
鈥淚 am so proud of this team as a whole because you never know which one will have a star game and it makes us a deadly force against other teams.鈥�
Tale (296 kills and 252 digs(, Porter (391 digs), and Barnish (615) are stats leaders for the Roaring Lions.
The winning team advances to the semifinals on Monday. Should Penn State Fayette win, it will host a semifinal match at 5 p.m.
For more information on the team, go to https://www.psfathletics.com/sports/wvball/index.
Slagus grabbing honors
Bucknell senior Kaitlyn Slagus, a Belle Vernon graduate, is garnering some love from the Patriot League basketball community.
Slagus has been named to the Preseason All-Patriot League Team for the second straight year, while classmate Kate Walker was selected for the first time for the Bison, who were picked for the third straight season to finish first in the conference.
Slagus is currently 20th in program history with 1,046 points, 11th with 703 rebounds and could become the first player in program history to score 1,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds.
The Bison open their season on Tuesday, Nov. 6, when the team heads to Monmouth.
Pitt, WVU and PSU football
West Virginia and Pitt are back in action after a week off, while Penn State will look to build off of its rocky win at Indiana Saturday.
The Mountaineers (Baylor, Thursday night), Pitt (Duke, Saturday, 3:30 p.m.), and Penn State (Iowa, Saturday, 3:30 p.m.) are all at home this week
Both the Mountaineers and Panthers will look to get the bad taste out of their mouths coming off two different types of losses, while the Nittany Lions will have their hands full with the Hawkeyes.
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