Bethlehem, Pa.--- The Moravian College volleyball team faced Landmark Conference opponents The University of Scranton and United States Merchant Marine Academy in Johnston Hall on Saturday.
The Greyhounds battled through five sets with the Royals winning the first match 25-9, but dropping the next two sets by a small margin of 25-21 in both. The Hounds would rally back and take the fourth set 25-21 but fell 15-10 in the fifth and final set.
"We came out very strong against Scranton and had a good team effort. We hit better than they did but it in the end it all came down to who would play better in the fifth set," stated Head Coach Shelley Bauder.
Freshman outside hitter Mary Zacher had a team-high of 17 kills, and she posted five assists, two service aces and 16 digs. Sophomore middle blocker Taylor Kornmann had 12 kills and two blocks in the first match of the day. Helping out was junior middle blocker Victoria Bobyak with nine kills, five digs, one service ace and four blocks while junior outside hitter Lauren Hostetler had eight kills, 10 digs and one block.
Junior setter Megan Szkolnicki paced the Blue and Grey with 36 assists and added six kills, two service aces, seven digs and one block. Freshman libero Jean Markovic posted a team-high of 21 digs and pitched in with eight assists.
"I think Mary Zacher had a really nice game against Scranton as well as Jean, who did a great job defensively," commented Bauder.
In the second match of the night, the Greyhounds would take things to four set with the Mariners. They dropped the opening set 25-27, but rallied back winning the next three straight with the scores of 25-12, 25-17, 25-13.
"Lauren Hostetler really set the tone for us on both sides of the ball. Meg did a great job earning us points on the serve and running the offense. We probably had one of best hitting percentages of the season by cutting down our errors," explained Bauder.
Kornmann lead the team with 16 kills, two blocks and two digs in the second contest of the night. Zacher had 10 kills and one block, while Hostetler also added 10 kills, two service aces and nine digs for the Hounds. Szkolicki paced the Blue and Grey again with 40 assists, six service aces and four kills for the win.
The volleyball team heads to Haverford College on Thursday, October 9 at 7:00 p.m. for a non –conference match up.
