WILKES-BARRE, Pa. --- The Moravian College women's volleyball team swept a pair of matches on the opening night of the Wilkes University Colonel Clash Friday evening with 3-0 wins over The City College of New York and host Wilkes.
The Greyhounds, now 15-12 overall, jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening set versus CCNY before taking the set 25-8. The Blue and Grey dominated the second set as well for a 25-5 win, and Moravian raced out to a 21-8 lead in the third set before earning a 25-15 victory for the sweep.
Senior middle blocker Taylor Kornmann led Moravian with nine kills in just 11 attempts for an .818 hitting percentage in the match to go along with three digs versus CCNY. Junior outside hitter Mary Zacher added eight kills, three digs and a pair of service aces while senior right side hitter Jaclyn Smith and sophomore middle blocker Erin Tiger each had five kills with Smith contributing a pair of blocks. Freshman outside hitter Brooke Kusmider had four kills and three digs for the Greyhounds.
Freshman setter Victoria Kauffman distributed out 31 assists to go with two service aces and a pair of digs while sophomore outside hitter Rachel Farmer led the Greyhounds with five digs to go with two kills. Senior right side hitter Courtney Kruscavage served up a team-high three aces to go with three digs and a pair of kills while freshman defensive specialist Alexis Szaro added two service aces and three digs. Freshman outside hitter Hailee Yoder contributed three kills while junior libero Jean Markovic had three digs. Sophomore defensive specialist Bridgette Devlin added two digs and one ace while junior defensive specialist Ashton Galasso had one service ace.
The Hounds opened up the match versus Wilkes by jumping out to a 4-0 lead on the Colonels. Wilkes would come back and tie the match at 7-7 before Kusmider and Kornmann served Moravian out to a 14-8 lead. The Blue and Grey went on to win the set 25-17.
Moravian trailed early in the second game but the serving of Szaro, Kusmider and Kornmann eventually pushed the Greyhounds to a 13-8 lead on the way to a 25-18 set victory. The third set would see Wilkes in control early as the Colonels opened an 8-5 advantage. Wilkes pushed that lead to 14-10 before Zacher took over behind the service line and gave Moravian a 15-14 lead. Markovic was able to extend the lead on her service turn before the Greyhounds won the set 25-22 to complete the sweep.
Zacher and Tiger led Moravian against the Colonels with 10 kills apiece, and Zacher added 13 digs and a trio of service aces. Kusmider contributed seven kills and 12 digs while Kornmann added six kills and three digs.
Yoder had three kills and a pair of digs in the second match while Kauffman ran the offense with 36 assists to go along with eight digs. Markovic added 13 digs while Szaro and Devlin each had dive digs.
Moravian is slated to return to action on Saturday, October 22 in the second day of the Wilkes Colonel Clash as the Greyhounds play Alfred State College at 10:00 a.m. and Keystone College at 12:00 p.m.
