ST. PAUL, Minn. --- The Moravian College women's volleyball team closed out its weekend trip to Minnesota with a pair of 3-1 losses in a tri-match at Hamline University with the College of St. Scholastica Saturday.
The host Pipers won the opening set 25-19 after the Greyhounds had closed within a point at 15-14 midway through the set. Moravian trailed early in the second set, and the Greyhounds tied the score at 13-13 on a kill from junior Kellianne Comitalo, and Comitalo then served four straight points to give the Greyhounds the lead for good as they won the second set 25-19.
The third set went back-and-forth with each team taking slim leads. Moravian had a 23-21 lead before Hamline scored the last four points of the set for a 25-23 victory. The Pipers broke a 2-2 tie early in the fourth set and went on to win 25-15 to capture the match.
Junior outside hitter Taylor Jennings led Moravian with 13 kills in the match to go with three digs while Comitalo finished with 11 kills, six digs and three service aces. Freshman middle blocker Taylor Kornmann also had 11 kills to go with a pair of blocks while senior setter Kelly Brown led the Greyhounds with 42 assists and 12 digs to go along with two kills.
Freshman right side hitter Lauren Piccinich added eight kills while sophomore middle blocker Victoria Bobyak had three kills. Senior right side hitter Katelynn Strohl had 12 digs and two service aces for Moravian while sophomore libero Andrea Giardina added 11 digs and freshman defensive specialist Kim Groff had eight digs.
Moravian opened its second match with St. Scholastica by winning the first set 25-19, breaking a 19-16 tie with final six points of the set with Bobyak serving. The Saints jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the second set before the Greyhounds fought back to tie the match at 14-14. St. Scholastica finished the set an 11-5 run to win 25-19.
The Saints also took an early lead in the third set with a 7-1 edge on their way to a 25-13 set victory. Bobyak served Moravian out to a 4-1 lead in the fourth set but St. Scholastica came back at tied the set at 7-7. The Greyhounds built a four-point lead, 17-13, before the Saints moved in front 23-20. Bobyak had an ace to move Moravian closer, and the Greyhounds tied the set at 24-24 and 25-25 before falling to the Saints, 27-25, to end the match.
Bobyak had five services aces, five kills, three blocks and a pair of digs in the match. Hostetler and Kornmann each had eight kills to lead Moravian versus the Saints with Kornmann adding three digs and two blocks and Hostetler contributing two digs. Brown ran the offense with 34 assists to go with 16 digs and three kills while Giardina had a team high 20 digs.
Piccinich had seven kills for the Greyhounds while Groff contributed 12 digs. Strohl added five digs and a pair of service aces while Jennings had six kills and Comitalo added five digs.
The Greyhounds are scheduled to return to action on Saturday, October 19 in a Landmark Conference match versus nationally-ranked Juniata College at 1:00 p.m. The match is part of the second Landmark Conference Round Robin of the season that is scheduled to be played at The United States Merchant Marine Academy in King's Point, New York. However, the weekend may be moved to The Catholic University of America if the government shutdown continues. USMMA has not competed in an athletic event since the shutdown began.
