BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Moravian College volleyball team simply refused to let a losing streak continue by reinstituting something they may have lost sight of over the past week.
In Wednesday evening's straight-sets win over Penn State-Berks at Johnston Hall, the Greyhounds (6-8) remembered to have fun playing a game they love with their teammates.
"That was a very important part of tonight," said senior setter Kelly Brown, who still had a smile on her face after serving up 32 assists in the victory. "We've talked about it before; when we have fun, we play better. Having fun and laughing together on the court is a major factor to our success."
Moravian was successful early on Wednesday against the Lions, setting the tone for the remainder of the match. The Greyhounds took the first set 25-14, which is when head coach Shelley Bauder saw her team start to really enjoy each other's company as they executed their game plan perfectly.
"That's what I wanted to see out there," Bauder said. "No matter what the scoreboard says, we have to keep an even keel and always stay positive. It was a refreshing win, and it was a very important win. We needed the victory and we needed to come out here and show ourselves what we could do, and we did that. Hopefully that will be a springboard heading into our next couple of matches."
Moravian closed out the match in just over an hour with 25-20 and 25-19 wins in the second and third sets.
Brown led a balanced attack that saw nine different Greyhounds record a kill on Wednesday night. Sophomore middle blocker Victoria Bobyak and freshman middle blocker Taylor Kornmann each had eight kills to lead the team offensively, while junior outside hitter Taylor Jennings and freshman opposite hitter Lauren Piccinich each had five.
On the defensive end, freshman libero Kim Groff came up with 15 digs to lead the team. Brown chipped in 11 digs and sophomore defensive specialist Andrea Giardina rounded out a solid defensive effort with 10 digs.
"It was a great win for us after a couple losses last weekend," Brown said. "We finally connected as a whole, and that's what we've been trying to do all season. Our service game was on point tonight. Everything was on target and when we have that going, everything flows so well."
The Greyhounds served up nine aces in the straight-sets victory.
Brown and Bauder both echoed that Wednesday's win over Penn State-Berks is a great fresh memory to have heading into this weekend's York College Spartan Invitational. The Greyhounds have matches scheduled against FDU-Florham (3 p.m.) and Rowan University (7 p.m.) on Saturday before taking on Carnegie Mellon University (10 a.m.) and host York (noon) on Sunday.
