LATROBE, Pa. (Oct. 23)- The Saint Vincent women's volleyball team secured a big 3-1 President's Athletic Conference win against Thiel on Wednesday night.
 
Saint Vincent (10-10, 4-1 PAC) dominated in the first set winning 25-14. Thiel (15-6, 3-3 PAC) bounced back with a 25-17 win in set two to tie the match up, before the Bearcats earned a 25-21 victory in the third set and 25-20 win in set four to win the match 3-1.
 
Over the course of the win, the Bearcats recorded an impressive .221 hitting percentage, including a .483 percentage in the opening set of the night. Meegan Williams recorded yet another impressive performance with a team-high 17 kills and ten digs for the Bearcats.
 
Fellow freshman Dakota Hershberger was equally as impressive as Williams for SVC as she recorded 14 kills. Kaelyn Staples-Klasnic finished with a double-double as well with 11 kills and 16 digs for Saint Vincent.
 
Vivian Poach recorded 39 assists, 18 digs, and three service aces for the Bearcats, while Lauren Fox totaled a game-high four blocks.
 
After a back-and-forth early portion of the opening set, Saint Vincent took full control. With the match at 7-6 in favor of SVC, the Bearcats went on a 6-0 run on three straight Tomcat attack errors, followed by kills from Williams and Fox and a service ace from Sani Jones to give Saint Vincent a 13-6 advantage.
 
Saint Vincent never looked back as they went on to outscore Thiel 12-8 over the remaining points, winning the opening set (25-14) to take a 1-0 lead.
 
The Bearcats struggled in the second set as Thiel tied the match. The Tomcats opened up to a 9-4 lead in the set, before Thiel cruised to the set win (25-17), tying the match at 1-1.
 
The Tomcats took the first advantage of the third set as they led 7-5. However, this time the Bearcats used a big 5-0 run and scored nine of the next 11 points to regain control at 14-9. Once again, Saint Vincent retained that control, ending the set by scoring two of the final three points on kills by Hershberger and Williams to win the third set (25-21) and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
SVC never lost the lead in the fourth set. The Bearcats quickly opened up to a 18-10 lead in the set after a 6-0 run which included two kills by Staples-Klasnic, a kill by Poach, and service ace from Ramos.
 
Thiel went on a 10-6 run to cut the lead to 24-20, before Williams recorded the match clinching kill on an assist from Poach to win the fourth set (25-20) and the match 3-1.
 
As a team, the Bearcats and Tomcats both totaled 81 digs in the match. Saint Vincent led assists 48-40 and blocks 7-4. The Bearcats also led the match in kills (50-43) and service aces 8-4.
 
The Bearcats will return to action on Saturday, October 26 when they travel to Allegheny for another PAC matchup. The match is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. in Meadville, Pa.