CENTER VALLEY, Pa. — Penn College fell to DeSales, 3-0, in the opening match of the DeSales Tournament on Friday evening. The Wildcats dropped set scores of 13-25, 18-25, and 22-25. The Wildcats cut an eight-point deficit to 23-21 in the third set, but the push was not enough to avoid the sweep. The Wildcats are 0-3 overall. DeSales is 2-0 overall.
How it happened: The Wildcats could not recover after DeSales followed
Peyton Maass's kill with five straight points to move ahead 17-8 in the first set.
Avani Rainier answered with a kill, and
Eleana Falkner added a service ace during a three-point Wildcats response, but DeSales closed out the set 25-13.
PCT was within one at 17-18 after
Lilly Stockum's kill from
Sara Seyfert, but DeSales scored the next five points, including two Bryanna Purisima service aces, to move ahead 23-17. Earlier, Stockum and Maass delivered kills during a middle stretch that brought the Wildcats even at 11-11 before a DeSales setting error put PCT ahead 12-11. DeSales finished the set 25-18.
The Wildcats made their strongest push late in the third set, scoring six straight points from a 23-16 deficit to get within 23-22.
Taryn Smith served through five of those points, including back-to-back aces, and Stockum added two kills during the surge. DeSales answered with the final two points to close the set 25-22.
Inside the box: Stockum led the Wildcats with seven kills on 20 attacks and added two digs. Smith finished with a team-high nine assists and served two aces. Maass recorded a team-best nine digs, added four kills and had one block assist.
Janae Carden collected seven digs and converted her lone attack for a kill.
Samantha Buff tallied six kills while hitting .400 and added a team-high six total blocks. Brooke Signorella recorded eight kills and four block assists, finishing with 10 points. Allison Reimer also posted eight kills, hit .400 and added seven digs. Ashlyn Dinan finished with a team-high 14 assists and added four digs.
Up next: The Wildcats face Rutgers-Camden at noon and Immaculata at 2 p.m., on Saturday, Sept. 5.
