ARDEN HILLS, Minn. --- The Moravian College women's volleyball team dropped its first two matches on a weekend trip to Minnesota, falling to the University of Wisconsin-Superior in straight sets and to host Bethel University in five sets Friday.
In the opening match of the triangular, the Greyhounds had a 7-5 lead in the first set with Wisconsin-Superior before the Yellow Jackets took a 13-9 lead. Moravian fought back to tie the set at 17-17 before WSP won the set 25-22. The Greyhounds had an early 8-4 lead in the second set before the Yellow Jackets pulled in front again. For the second straight set, Moravian would knot the score at 17-17 before Wisconsin-Superior earned the 25-19 win. After falling behind early in the third set, Moravian moved ahead 14-11. For the third straight set, the score would be tied at 17-17 before the Yellow Jackets pulled away for a 25-19 win to capture the match.
Freshman middle blocker Taylor Kornmann led Moravian with ten kills to go with two digs while sophomore outside hitter Lauren Hostetler added five kills and seven digs. Junior outside hitter Taylor Jennings also had five kills. Sophomore middle blocker Victoria Bobyak had four kills and two digs for the Greyhounds while senior setter Kelly Brown contributed 23 assists and five digs.
Sophomore libero Andrea Giardina had a team high 14 digs for Moravian versus the Yellow Jackets while senior right side hitter Katelynn Strohl contributed six digs and freshman defensive specialist Kim Groff had five digs.
The host Royals opened the second match with a 25-19 win in the first set after breaking a 2-2 tie with four straight points. The second set went back-and-forth with Bethel eventually pulling out to a 21-17 lead. Groff took over service for the Greyhounds and pushed Moravian in front 22-21. The Greyhounds pulled out a 25-23 win in the set to tie the contest at 1-1. In the third set, the Royals jumped out to a 4- lead before Moravian rallied back to tie the set at 9-9. With the set tied at 14-14, junior outside hitter Kelianne Comitalo served four straight points as Moravian pulled ahead 19-14 and onto a 25-21 win in the set.
Bethel jumped out to an early lead in the fourth set and led 23-11 before the Greyhounds made it close before falling 25-18 to bring on the fifth set. The final set was tied at 2-2 when the Royals scored four straight points to take a lead, and Bethel finished off the victory with a 15-9 win on the set.
Jennings led the Greyhounds with 15 kills in the match to go with a pair of blocks while Kornmann added 14 kills, three digs and three blocks. Brown controlled the offense for Moravian with 46 assists, and she also had a team-high 25 digs. Comitalo finished with nine kills, seven digs and a pair of blocks for the Greyhounds while senior middle blocker Brittany O'Hara added five kills and three blocks.
Strohl contributed 18 digs for Moravian while Giardina had 17 digs and Groff had 14 digs and a pair of service aces. Freshman right side hitter Lauren Piccinich added four kills and a pair of digs for Moravian while Hostetler contributed three kills and four digs.
The Greyhounds will conclude their trip to Minnesota with two matches on Saturday, October 12 when Moravian plays a tri-match at Hamline University with the College of St. Scholastica starting at 11:00 a.m. CDT.
