Greyhounds Earn Two Five-Set Victories at Cedar Crest Tri-Match

BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University women's volleyball squad won a pair of matches at Cedar Crest College on Saturday afternoon, defeating the host Falcons 3-2, then taking down Alvernia University 3-2 in a pair of five-set non-conference matches.

How It Happened – Cedar Crest Match

• The Hounds took the opener 21-25, 25-12, 25-13, 20-25, 15-9 over the host Falcons
• Moravian jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but Cedar Crest countered with three straight points to knot the set at 4-4. Both squads exchanged points with Moravian holding a 20-18 advantage before the Falcons surge gave them a 22-20 edge. The Blue and Grey got one more point before Cedar Crest claimed set 1, 25-21
• The Greyhounds took an early edge and ran with it, leading by six points before Cedar Crest countered with three straight points. Moravian continued to put the ball on the floor and extended their lead to 10 points on multiple occasions, as when the Hounds won the set to even the match
• The third set started the same with the Greyhounds taking charge and leading by a score of 7-2 before the Falcons earned three consecutive points. Moravian then went on a seven-point run to push their lead to 18-7 and held on for a 25-13 victory
• After a 2-0 lead for Moravian to start the fourth set, Cedar Crest rallied for six-consecutive points to take a 6-2 edge and the squads would end up tied at 8-8. The Falcons put together another run and strung together five-straight points for a 13-8 lead before the Hounds struck back with five-consecutive points as well to tie the set at 13-13. Moravian possessed a 20-18 lead before Cedar Crest countered with seven-straight points to force a fifth set with at 20-25 victory
• The final set would began with a 2-0 Moravian advantage that quickly disappeared as the Falcons went ahead 5-2, but the Hounds found a way to regain the lead by a score of 7-5, which was the closest Cedar Crest would get, as Moravian pulled away for a 15-9 set score to earn the victory
• Sophomore middle blocker Jenna Deegan led the Greyhounds with 18 kills and four service aces while also earning double-figures in digs with 12
• Junior right side hitter Sophie Bauer and sophomore right side hitter Makenzie Krasley each contributed seven kills and Bauer added four digs while Krasley recorded 13 digs, two service aces and an assist.
• Junior middle blocker Autumn Marrero and junior middle blocker Grace Silfani each added three kills with Marrero having two service aces, three digs and two blocks and Silfani with three assists, a dig and one block
• Senior setter Natalia Matos ran the Greyhounds offense with 29 assists to go with 16 digs, three service aces and one kill while senior libero Gabby Mancini had team highs of 19 digs, four assists and a service ace. Freshman defensive specialist Tamara Vasquez added 10 digs and three service aces 

How It Happened – Alvernia Match

• The Blue and Grey also won the second match in five sets as the squad defeated Alvernia University 27-25, 15-25, 22-25, 25-20, 15-11
• The opening set was close until the Greyhounds pulled ahead 18-12. The Golden Wolves responded and got within a point at 21-20 before the Hounds scored twice. Alvernia rattled off four straight points to go ahead 24-23 but it was Moravian that scored the final three points in the opening set win
• The second set saw Alvernia leading 8-4 before the Blue and Grey ran off six straight points. The Golden Wolves countered with a 13-3 run to pull ahead 21-13 before winning the set
• Moravian took a 4-1 lead in the third set, and the Greyhounds had a 9-6 edge before Alvernia moved in front. The Hounds looked to rally and pulled within two points at 24-22 before the set ended with the Golden Wolves taking a 2-1 edge
• The fourth set had Alvernia leading 7-3 early. With the Golden Wolves up 11-10, the Greyhounds ran off seven straight points to take the lead for good on the way to evening the contest
• The final set saw Alvernia score first but the Hounds recorded the next eight points to take control of the set on the way to improving to 5-1 on the season for the first time since the 2012 campaign that had Moravian at 10-1 through 11 contests
• Deegan led Moravian again with 12 kills to go with eight digs and four assists while Bauer contributed 11 kills
• Marrero recorded nine kills, six digs, six service aces and four blocks while Krasley and Silfani each had seven kills with Krasley adding seven digs and Silfani registering six digs and three blocks
• Matos contributed 37 assists, 15 digs and three kills while Mancini and junior defensive specialist Allie Ludlow both had 12 digs with Ludlow adding three assists. Vazquez had nine digs in the match 

Up Next for the Greyhounds

• Wednesday, September 14 at Muhlenberg College, 7:00 p.m.
• Friday, September 16 vs. Stockton University and Widener at Neumann University, 4:00 p.m.