Women's volleyball finishes second in home Invitational, sweeps Behrend

JACKIE LA BAU
Staff Writer

The women's volleyball team hosted their first invitational in over 10 years on Friday Oct. 5 and Saturday Oct. 6.

Friday's series of matches started off the Blue Devil Invitational with Fredonia first facing Rochester. Junior outside hitter Leanne Maloney added 11 kills and 18 digs to her record, while junior outside hitter Amy Bertrando and freshman middle hitter Kaitlin Erdmann each had 10 kills. Junior setter Alyssa Torpy helped her team out with 36 assists.

Fredonia defeated Rochester with high final scores of 31-29, 30-17 and 30-19. This was a huge psychological win for the team as they had been defeated by Rochester earlier this season.

"The invitational was a testament of how much we have improved this year," said Head Coach Geoff Braun. "This is important because that is exactly what we strive to do... become a better team each day."

The Blue Devils then faced SUNY Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) contender Oneonta in their second match. Fredonia won three out of their four games, allowing Oneonta to leave with one win. Erdmann tallied 17 kills while Bertrando gained 11. Senior middle hitter and Co-captain JaHanna Dixon had an impressive four kills, four service aces and eight digs by the end of the match.

Ready to continue their winning streak, Fredonia walked into the second and final day of their home invitational facing two different teams. However, they did not continue the trend as they lost all four sets in their first match against Mount St. Joseph.

The Blue Devils bounced back from their defeat in the second game, as they faced Penn State Berhend, a team they have had trouble with in the past. Fredonia felt pressure to win and used that to come out on top by defeating Berhend in all four matches with scores of 30-23, 30-20, 30-22 and 30-27. Maloney had 10 kills, two service aces and 23 digs while Dixon added her personal total of 13 kills and 15 digs.

Overall, Fredonia's first invitational record of the season stands at 3-1. They placed second, allowing their loss against Mount St. Joseph to cost them the invitational title. Maloney, Torpy and Dixon all earned the status of MVP.

"The team's chemistry this year is just unbelievable," said Maloney. "Everyone has just been working so well together to achieve the same goal."

The women's volleyball team has high hopes to win the SUNYACs this year as their overall standings have improved to 18-11, a higher record than what they had at the end of last season.

"I think that we maintained our composure and intensity throughout the entire weekend," said Torpy. "Gaining a win immediately after a tough loss is a difficult thing to set your mind on. We executed a weekend of solid game playing."

The Blue Devils will take on Morrisville, a team they swept earlier this season, as well as Geneseo at 7 p.m. on Friday Oct. 19 at home.