Lycoming News

Penn College women's volleyball faced defeats against Lycoming College and Hartwick in the season-opening tournament held at Lycoming College on Friday night. The Wildcats began the Coach Hawk era with a 3-0 loss to the Warriors, with set scores of 25-12, 26-24, and 25-14, before succumbing to Hartwick in four sets (25-11, 25-21, 25-14, 25-11). This leaves the Wildcats at 0-2 while both the Warriors and Hawks start their seasons at 1-0.

In their match against Lycoming, Penn College dropped the first set but managed to score five of the first seven points in the second set until Lycoming rallied for a tie at 6-6. The teams remained closely contested throughout the set before the Warriors secured a narrow 26-24 victory and concluded with a decisive third set win of 25-14.

Wildcats newcomer Navaeh Ward stood out in her collegiate debut with a team-high six kills and two service aces, along with contributing defensively with 12 digs. Kathryn Burnett provided 12 assists while Jo Hess led defensively with a team-best of 16 digs.

In their encounter with Hartwick, after losing the first set, Penn College claimed its first set win of the season thanks to an Ava Harple kill that resulted in a score of 25-21 in set two. However, Hartwick took control by winning the final two sets.

Ward narrowly missed achieving a double-double performance against Hartwick with nine kills and nine digs. Harple added six kills while Hailey DeBrody contributed three kills for Penn College. Burnett recorded 23 assists and Lana Howard, DeBrody, and Ward each earned one block.

Penn College will conclude its participation in the Lycoming College Tip-Off on Saturday morning against Penn State Mont Alto. The match is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.