Women’s Volleyball lands third in the nation after going 1-1 Friday at USCAA Championship Tournament

LEMONT FURNACE, Pa. --- Carlow University women's volleyball finished third overall in the nation at the USCAA Championship Tournament Friday at Penn State Fayette.

The Celtics won a thrilling 3-1 upset victory over No. 3-seed Bay Path (Mass.) University to start the day and escape elimination but fell 3-0 to No. 2-seed Florida National University later that night.

vs. Bay Path: W, 3-1 (25-17, 23-25, 25-22, 28-26)

Carlow landed 16 service aces in the upset win over the Wildcats (13-9), and Head Coach Julie Gaul said, "It was a phenomenal match. The first-year athletes really stepped up."

Rebecca Hess (New Alexandria, Pa./Greensburg Central Catholic) led Carlow with a double-double 14 kills and 18 digs, while Emily Hess (Saltsburg, Pa./River Valley HS) picked up 18 assists and hit seven service aces. Kelsey Sufak (Allison Park, Pa./Deer Lakes HS) and Sarah Porter (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway HS) recorded 12 and 10 digs, respectively.

The Celtics started strong, jumping out to a 15-8 lead enroute to a 25-17 victory in the first set.

Bay Path rallied to a marginal win in the second set. Carlow strung together a 10-2 run to come from behind and go ahead, 20-18, before two kills in a row and a service ace put the Wildcats back in the lead, 21-20. Both teams took it down to the wire, when a kill from Jorja Sedlar (Brentwood, Pa./PA Leadership Charter School) saw the Celtics trailing by one. Bay Path secured the final kill to win the second set, 25-23.

The third set played out in similar fashion, with Carlow landing on top at the end. With the set tied at 22-all, back-to-back kills from Suzy Walker (Boswell, Pa./North Star HS) and a Bay Path error gave Carlow the 25-22 win, now ahead, 2-1.

Neither team was willing to give up the chance to continue in the tournament, taking the final set to a win-by-two situation. The Wildcats went ahead 11-3, but the Celtics went on a 10-0 run to take a 13-11 lead. Carlow maintained at least a one-point lead throughout the set until the very end. Two Carlow errors in a row and a Bay Path kill put the Wildcats up, 24-23, but they committed two errors of their own to give Carlow a 25-24 advantage. A kill and an ace saw Bay Path up, 26-25, before a kill from Walker, a service ace by Porter and another Wildcats error ended the set, 28-26, in favor of the Celtics.

Anastasiya Tsetsko led Bay Path with a game-high 22 kills, and Shanayah St. Phard added a game-high 19 digs. The Wildcats tallied 13 blocks in the effort.

vs. Florida National: L, 3-0 (25-12, 25-19, 25-14)

After a hard-fought elimination game against Bay Path, the Celtics were afforded just a few hours to recover before facing No. 2-seed Florida National.

The bright spot was senior setter Porter landed her 1,000^th career assist in the second set of the match.

The Conquistadors (15-16) hit .290 with 11 service aces, and Carlow recorded 10 blocks.

Rebecca Hess led Carlow with seven kills, Sufak added 12 digs and Paige Keller (Liberty Borough, Pa./South Allegheny HS) recorded four blocks in the effort.

The Celtics kept it close to start the match, but Florida National outscored Carlow 15-4 to win the first set, 25-12.

The Conquistadors jumped out to a 13-7 lead in the second set before three kills in a row from Sedlar brought Carlow back to trail by three. The Celtics crept along behind the Conquistadors, trailing by one or two points until the very end of the set, when Florida National outscored Carlow 5-1 to win, 25-19.

Carlow hung around in the third set, scoring five unanswered points to trail by five late in the game. The Conquistadors scored six unanswered points of their own following Carlow's run to end the third set and win the match, 25-14.
Kitula Amaya Morales led Florida National with a double-double 14 kills and 10 digs, while Ariana Long contributed 10 digs. Chriselle Ferdinand landed six service aces.