STEVENSON, MD-The York College women's volleyball squad
saw their 2008 season come to an end as the Stevenson University
Mustangs defeated the Spartans 3-1 in the opening round of the
Capital Athletic Conference tournament. The Mustangs, who are the
three seed in the tournament, advance to face second seeded St.
Mary's in the tournament semifinals on Thursday. The Spartans
conclude the year with a mark of 19-15 while Stevenson moves on
having improved to 31-6.
The Spartans captured the opening set 25-22 before watching the
Mustangs come back and win the next three sets 25-20, 25-21, and
25-19.
In set one, the Spartans took the early 3-0 lead. The Mustangs tied
the game at three and the two teams were not more than two points
apart until York put together a 4-0 run to take a 14-10 lead. The
Spartans would not surrender the lead the rest of the set as York
got off to a good start in the match.
The second set saw the Mustangs jump out to a 4-0 lead. The
Spartans eventually drew even at 11 on a Mustang attack error. The
set would be tied again at 12 and 13 before the Mustangs took the
lead for good on a Dani Katsampis kill. That point started a spurt
where Stevenson captured six of the next seven points to take a
19-14 advantage. Stevenson built the lead to 22-16 before settling
for the five point set win.
York seized an early 10-6 advantage in the third set but the
Mustangs battled back to tie the set at 18. The two squads would be
tied again at 19, 20, and 21 before the Mustangs scored the last
four points, one courtesy of a Spartan ball handling error and two
due to Spartan attack errors. The fourth point came when Alana
Eller closed out the set with a kill.
With the Spartans fighting for their season, the fourth set was
tied six times with the final deadlock coming at 11-11. The
Mustangs then fashioned a 4-2 spurt that gave them a 16-13 lead.
York cut the lead to 16-15 on a Mustang attack error but then
Stevenson scored three straight to take the 19-15 advantage. York
would again battle back to within one at 19-18 but the Mustangs
scored six of the final seven points of the set to close out the
match and punch their ticket to the CAC semifinals at St.
Mary's.
Eller led the Mustangs with 14 kills as she hit .250 for the match.
She also had 16 digs for one of the two Stevenson double-doubles.
Brittany Umetin also had a double-double with 39 assists and 11
digs. Alex Mercer chipped in with 15 kills while Katsampis had nine
kills for the winners. Julie Olson paced the Mustang defense with
18 digs. Alexa Carney banged out three of the Mustangs' five
service aces.
Freshman Julie Coombs (Leonardtown,
Md./Leonardtown) paced the Spartan offense with 10 kills
and 12 digs for a double-double. Freshman Heather Bucher
(Carlisle, Pa./Carlisle) chipped in with eight kills, 19
assists, nine digs and two block assists. Junior Casi
Brough (Hanover, Pa./Spring Grove) contributed nine kills
and three digs while sophomore Alishia Waltermyer (Brogue,
Pa./Red Lion) added seven kills and three blocks. Freshman
setter Cortni Rentzel (Mt. Wolf, Pa./Northeastern)
dished out 23 assists. Junior libero Amanda Clemens
(Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest) led the Spartan defense with 20
digs. Sophomore Jana Arentz (Hanover, Pa./Hanover)
added 10 digs of her own.
The Spartans, who do not have a senior on this year's squad,
look to a bright future in 2009 as they will return their entire
starting lineup. The Spartans have gone 61-32 over the last three
seasons.
MATCH BOX
