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LATROBE, Pa. (Oct. 29) - The Saint Vincent volleyball team picked up its biggest win of the season on Senior Day, sweeping W&J 3-0 in a Presidents' Athletic Conference matchup at the Carey Center.
W&J entered the match in search of its 20th win on the season. However, the Bearcats topped the rival Presidents for the first time since the 2013 season. Saint Vincent secured the victory over W&J with set wins of 25-21, 25-18 and 25-22.
Both teams played through a back and forth first set, with neither team able to build a sizeable lead. With the Bearcats trailing 15-14, SVC rattled off four straight points, which was started by back-to-back kills by seniors
Kayla Stockenus and
Emily Vaughan. That run made it 18-14 Bearcats. W&J brought the deficit back to within two points at 23-21 but Stockenus and
Sarah Wozniak finished the set win off with a kill each.
Another senior,
Emily Samara, helped SVC start strong in the second set. Samara used two kills to push the Bearcats out to a 5-0 lead. A kill by Vaughan made it 7-2 before W&J rattled off a 6-1 run to tie the set at 8-8. Saint Vincent countered with five straight points, a run started with a kill by
Danielle Wassick. A service ace by
Marisa O'Dell swelled the lead to six points (15-9). After the Presidents scored four straight points to cut it to 15-13, Samara added two more kills in a 5-0 SVC run to make it 20-13. O'Dell and Vaughan helped solidify the set with a kill each to close it at 25-18.
W&J rushed out to an early lead in the third, building a 5-4 advantage. However, back-to-back hitting errors gave SVC a 6-5 edge. Later, a kill by Wozniak made it 11-9 SVC. W&J would counter with a 4-0 run to make it 13-11, before the Bearcats used three straight points to regain a 14-13 lead. After the contest was tied at 16-16, W&J looked poised to force another set, taking a 22-17 lead with five of the next six points. That is when Stockenus took over, playing a part in seven of the final eight points as the Bearcats clinched the match. After a kill by Vaughan, Stockenus tallied a block and three straight kills to tie the match. Stockenus and Wozniak then earned back-to-back assisted blocks to make it 24-22 SVC. Stockenus added another block for good measure to end it.
Stockenus led the way for the Bearcats, posting a career-high and match-best 15 kills while also adding two solo and two assisted blocks. Vaughan tallied seven kills and led all players with 23 digs in her final match with the Green and Gold. O'Dell chipped in 23 assists, 11 digs and six kills. Wozniak had two solo blocks and five assisted blocks. Samara registered five kills and two assisted blocks, while freshman
Madison Cooper added 19 digs. Sophomore
Nina Beatrice had 18 assists and 8 digs.
Courtney Meyer was the fourth Bearcat to record double-digit digs, totaling 10.
The win was the fourth in the final five matches to close the season for Saint Vincent. The Bearcats wrapped up with a 14-18 overall mark and 7-11 in PAC play. W&J enters the PAC Tournament with a 19-9 overall record and an 11-7 league mark.