INDIANA, Pa. --- The Tusculum University women's volleyball team wrapped up the IUP Invitational on Saturday (Sept. 4) with a pair of victories: a three-set sweep of Frostburg State and a five-set grudge match against Ohio Dominican.
The Black and Orange (3-1) will open their home and conference slates with a meeting against UVA Wise (0-1) on Tuesday (Sept. 7) night.
Match 1: Tusculum 3, Frostburg State 0
The Pioneers won by scores of 26-24, 25-23, 25-21 to sweep the Bobcats in the day's opener.
Tusculum's Raeley Matthews and Carli Pigza continued their double-digit kill streaks with 13 and 10 points, respectively. The former averaged a .344 hitting clip. Peyton Gash contributed nine kills of her own. Elise Carmichael (20) and freshman Madison Adkins (18) tag-teamed setting responsibilities to steer the offense with a combined 38 assists. Carmichael landed six service aces once again and Carly Sosnowski passed up 17 digs. Emiah Burrowes claimed the lone solo block for TU, while Pigza and Emma Johnson shared a blocking credit.
Frostburg State was led by Jackie Sterenberg's nine kills and Beverly Braun's seven. Hayley Delor dished out 25 assists, while Bianca Smalls and Braun are credited with the pair of aces. Delor also had a team-high 12 digs. Braun and McKenna Houser were next up with nine and eight, respectively. All five of the Bobcats' five blocks were solo, including two by AJ Thompson.
FSU finished the match with a .198 hitting percentage with 34 kills and 13 attack errors in 106 total attempts. Tusculum totaled 47 kills, 24 errors, and 115 swings for an even .200 hitting percentage. The Bobcats led in total blocks (5-2), while the Pioneers held the advantage in assists (46-30), aces (8-2), and digs (53-42).
Match 2: Tusculum 3, Ohio Dominican 2
TU endured a five-set thriller to hand the Panthers (2-1) their first loss of the season (23-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-27, 15-10).
Tusculum posted a .181 hitting percentage as TU finished with 52 kills, 20 attack errors, and 177 attempts. ODU tallied a .119 attack percentage with 54 kills, 32 errors and 185 attempts. The Panthers finished the day with six total blocks to go along with three aces, 51 assists, and 86 digs. The Pioneers had seven aces with 16 total blocks, 50 assists, and 79 digs.
Olivia Kirksey and Emilee Fecht led Ohio Dominian with 15 kills apiece, while Amanda Remmetter reached double-digits with her 11. Carleigh Deitsch dished out 40 assists and also landed a team-best two aces. With 20 digs, Kelsey Shoup was 1-of-4 Panthers to reach the 10-dig plateau, which included Deitsch (17), Alexis Keipert (10), and Mya Linder (10). Jazlyn Lohman headed up the ODU defense with four total blocks (one solo, three assists).
Burrowes broke through for her best performance of the young season, totaling 17 kills, 13 digs, and five block assists. Matthews (13) and Gash (10) were followed closely by Pigza's eight kills. Carmichael and Adkins split the setting duties to record 24 and 21 assists, respectively. Defensively, Sosnowski continued her torrid pace with 27 digs, two shy of her career-high. Matthews registered another double-double as a Pioneer, adding 17 passes. Johnson and Raven Chance each had a personal-best seven block assists. Pigza joined Burrowes with five total blocks as well (one solo, four assists).
For the third match in a row, Carmichael was credited with six aces (tied fourth in program history for a five-set match).
