BEAVER FALLS, Pa. (Oct. 8)- The Saint Vincent women's volleyball team held on to win their PAC opener at Geneva by a final score of 3-2.
 
The Bearcats won the first two sets by scores of 25-18 and 25-20, before falling in the third and fourth sets by scores of 25-13 and 25-20. SVC answered with a 15-11 win in the decisive fifth set.
 
Kaelyn Staples led the way for the Bearcats with a team-high 13 kills, while also adding 12 digs, and six blocks. Luciana Polk recorded ten kills, a team-high five service aces, and 16 digs in the win as well for SVC.
 
Alexis DiFuccia had a strong performance for Saint Vincent as well, recording eight kills, while also adding three blocks for the Bearcats. Lauren Fox tallied a game-high eight blocks and Madie Eagler recorded 33 assists. Jessica Hughes added four kills for Saint Vincent, while Nicolena Yanosick picked up 11 digs.
 
In the opening set of the night the teams found themselves tied at 10-10. But, from that point on it was all Saint Vincent. After the Bearcats took the lead at 11-10 on a kill by Staples, they never lost the lead the rest of the set. SVC went on a 10-4 run to increase their lead to 21-14.
 
The Bearcats scored the final two points of the final two points of the set on an attack error by Geneva followed by an ace from Polk to win the opening set (25-18), taking a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
The teams traded the first few points of the second set as Geneva held a slight 11-10 lead over the Bearcats. Both the Bearcats and Golden Tornadoes continued to trade points back-and-forth as Geneva still held a one-point lead at 19-18.
 
Saint Vincent stormed back with a quick 5-0 run on kills by Polk, Hughes, and DiFuccia, a service ace by Ramos, and an error by the GTs to take a 23-19 lead. After a kill by Geneva, SVC scored the final two points to win the opening set (25-20) on kills by Hughes and DiFuccia to give Saint Vincent a 2-0 lead.
 
Geneva answered back with a win in the third set. SVC led in the set early at 7-4 but the Golden Tornadoes answered back to tie the set up at 7-7 and take the lead at 10-9, never losing the lead the rest of the set. Geneva closed the set out on a 15-4 run to win the third set (25-13), cutting into the SVC lead at 2-1.
 
The Golden Tornadoes answered with another set win in the fourth set. It was once again back-and-forth early on as the set was tied 13-13. The Bearcats took the first advantage taking a 17-14 lead after a couple of errors by Geneva. The GT's answered storming back to close the set out on an 11-3 run to win the set (25-20), forcing the decisive fifth set.
 
The Bearcats hung on to win it in the fifth set, despite Geneva getting out to an early 3-1 lead in the set. SVC answered after the early run by the Golden Tornadoes to tie the set up at 6-6. The Bearcat went on to score the next three points on two errors by the GT's mixed between an ace by Ramos to give SVC a 9-6 lead.
 
SVC closed the set outscoring the Golden Tornadoes 6-5 to win the set (15-13) and the match 3-2 to secure their PAC opening win.
 
The Bearcats had 43 kills, 11 aces, 13 blocks, 42 assists, and 84 digs on the night to open up 1-0 in President's Athletic Conference play.
 
Saint Vincent returns to action on Saturday, October 7 with a PAC matchup at Thiel. The match is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. in Greenville, Pa.