BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College women's volleyball team split a pair of Landmark Conference matches on the final day of the 2018 season Saturday, falling to Elizabethtown College, 3-1, before defeating Goucher College, 3-2, to end the year on Senior Day.
The Greyhounds won the opening set versus Elizabethtown, 25-23, after trailing 22-19, as freshman libero Ally Locy served the final four points. The second set was a back-and-forth game with the Blue Jays eventually posting a 25-23 win with the last two points of the game. Elizabethown pulled away late in the third and fourth sets for 25-20 and 25-21 set wins to capture the match.
Senior middle blocker Erin Tiger led Moravian with 18 kills in the match versus Elizabethtown to go with eight digs. Senior outside hitter Brooke Kusmider added 12 kills and 14 digs while freshman outside hitter Kirah Dreisbach had nine kills and a team-high 19 digs. Freshman right side hitter Sela Herber contributed seven kills while freshman middle blocker Renee Mapa had five kills.
Junior setter Victoria Kauffman led the offense with 49 assists to go with 11 digs, four kills and a pair of service aces while Locy added 10 digs. Freshman outside hitter Katie Hudson added four kills while junior defensive specialist Alexis Szaro had nine digs and two kills.
Moravian trailed Goucher 10-6 in the first set before Kusmider served 12 straight points to put the Greyhounds up 18-10. The Blue and Grey would go on to win the set 25-15. The Gophers would take the second set, 25-23, and the third set, 25-21. Moravian bounced back with an overall strong service game in the fourth set to post a 25-15 win and force the deciding fifth set. The final set would go back-and-forth with the Greyhounds down 14-13 before Dreisbach served up the 16-14 victory on a kill by Tiger.
Tiger paced the Greyhounds with 15 kills, four digs and a pair of blocks as she finished her career ninth in school history with 1,152 kills and 235 blocks. Kusmider added 13 kills, 11 digs and three service aces as she finished with 601 career kills while senior outside hitter Rachel Farmer had six kills, five digs and a pair of service aces, finishing her career with 113 kills and 259 digs.
Kauffman ran the office with 50 assists to go with eight digs, three service aces and a pair of kills while Locy had 22 digs, three assists and three service aces. Dreisbach contributed 17 digs while Szaro had seven digs. Mapa and freshman right side hitter Jess Appleton each had six kills while Herber had two kills.
"I'm so pleased we were able to end the season with a conference win," stated Head Coach Shelley Bauder. "Rachel had a great day at the net and was error free, Brooke came out swinging and playing great defense and earned two double-doubles today and Erin finished with a .375 hitting percentage and banged out double-digit kills in both matches. I'm very proud of these three smart, talented, fun young ladies, and I will miss them dearly next year. They should be proud of all they have done for Hound Volleyball."
