BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Moravian College volleyball team is seeded fifth in the 2011 Landmark Conference Championship Tournament, and is traveling to top seed Juniata College for a semifinal game on Saturday, November 5th at 11:00 a.m.
Moravian defeated The University of Scranton in a thrilling 5-set match (25-20, 25-21, 22-25, 23-25, 16-14) in the quarterfinals of the Conference Tournament. The Catholic University of America defeated Goucher College in the other quarterfinal match.
The Greyhounds are 22-11 overall, their second 20-win season in a row, and went 2-4 in conference play. This is Moravian's 15th postseason appearance in the last 16 seasons. The 10th ranked Eagles are 23-7 overall with a 6-0 conference record.
The winner of this match will take on the winner of Catholic versus Susquehanna University, who play at 1:30 p.m., in the Conference Championship game Saturday night at Juniata College at 7 p.m.
Greyhounds' head coach Shelley Bauder has Moravian in the postseason for the 15th time in her 19 seasons at the helm. Bauder only needs 12 more wins to reach the 400 win plateau, she has a career mark of 388-231 overall. This season, she has the Greyhounds undefeated at home, boasting a 9-0 record.
Junior right side hitter Samantha Savite (Long Valley, NJ/West Morris Central), pictured above-right, leads the Greyhounds with 330 kills, and she is ranked fourth in the conference in kills per game at 3.06, and sixth in hitting percentage at .255. She also has 57 blocks and 47 digs. Sophomore setter Kelly Brown (Bethlehem, PA/Bethlehem Catholic), pictured left, has tallied 1,065 assists and is averaging 8.88 assists per game, which ranks her third in the conference. Brown also has 396 digs and 38 service aces.
Junior libero Jesse Krasley (Allentown, PA/Parkland), pictured below, has been rewriting the record book in digs for Moravian. In her last match against Scranton, she broke the career digs record previously set at 1,665. She now holds it with 1,682 and holds every dig record for the Greyhounds. She also broke the single-season dig record at 639 previously set by herself, she has 737 thus far this season. She broke the record for most digs in a 5-set game with 54, breaking the old record by 15 digs. Krasley also holds the record for the 4-set and 3-set game.
Senior middle blocker Katie Moquete (Midland Park, NJ/Midland Park) is second on the team in kills with 254 to go with her 54 blocks and 19 aces. Junior JeanAnne Carey (Bucks County, PA/Pennsbury) has totaled 208 kills with 44 aces and 208 digs while sophomore middle blocker Brittany O'Hara (Perkasie, PA/Pennridge) is fourth in the conference in blocks per game with 0.79, and has a total of 89 to go with her 135 kills.
Freshman outside hitter Kellianne Comitalo (Philadelphia, PA/St. Basil Academy) has 156 kills, 39 aces and 202 digs while classmate outside hitter Taylor Jennings (Cedar Run, NJ/Southern Regional) tallied 156 kills and 104 digs. Senior defensive specialist Ashley Schmidt (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) is third on the team in digs with 340, and she has 39 aces. Sophomore right side hitter Katelyn Strohl (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) has 34 kills while junior middle blocker Jenny Wizeman (Sugarloaf, PA/Hazleton) has 18 kills.
The Eagles have won 30 straight conference titles, and have won 330 consecutive matches versus conference opponents are coached by Heather Pavlik, who is in her first season with the team. Pavlik was the assistant coach for Juniata for 15 years before taking over as head coach, and she was a three-time All-American in her playing days with the Eagles.
Juniata is led by sophomore outside hitter Rachelle Wiegand, who has tallied 173 kills, 32 service aces and 194 digs. Sophomore setter Courtney Greenberg has 1,019 assists while senior libero Libby Morrison has 585 digs. Freshman outside hitter Amelia Kepler leads the team in blocks with 43 to go with her 122 kills.
