COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus Volleyball team let a 2-0 lead slip before defeating Penn State Abington in five sets on Thursday night in non-conference action at Helfferich Hall.
First-year
Madison Small registered a season-high 26 kills and 24 digs while adding two aces. Junior
Molly Stevenson tallied a career-high 24 kills along with 17 digs and four aces which included the match-winning point off her final ace. Senior
Alonna McCummings matched her career high with 12 kills and sophomore
Lauren McGinn registered a career-high 59 assists while adding 11 digs. Senior
Alexa Mazzeo registered a career-high 39 digs as well.
The Bears gained the early lead in the first set and went up 5-2 before the Nittany Lions tied the set up at six. The run was the start of the Nittany Lions winning nine of 12 points to go up 11-8 after trailing early. Ursinus countered by winning seven of the next eight points to go up 15-13 and Abington won five of the next seven points to take the lead back at 18-17. The Nittany Lions led 20-19 until the Bears won five straight points to go up 24-20 and won the first set 25-21.
After Abington went up 3-1 to start the second set, the Bears won six of the next seven points to go up 7-4. Ursinus went up 12-8 and extended it out to their largest of the set at 16-10. Ursinus maintained its lead out to 19-14 before the Nittany Lions won seven of the next nine points to go up 22-21. Abington reached set point at 24-22 which set off a wild back-and-forth sequence that saw the Bears initially stave off five set points to keep the set going. Ursinus reached its first set point at 31-30 but Abington pushed it to lead 32-31 on their sixth set point opportunity. Small delivered four kills to carry the Bears to a 36-34 set win as they pushed off another Abington set point at 33-32 before ending the set.
The Nittany Lions won the third set and gained an early 5-3 lead in the fourth set. Ursinus won seven of the next 10 points to go up 10-8 and held a 12-9 advantage. Abington won seven of the next 10 points to go up 16-15 before the Bears countered by winning four of the next five to go up 19-17. Abington won five of the next seven points to go up 22-21 and got the kill to end the set in normal points at 25-23 after Ursinus trailed 24-23.
The Bears took the early 4-1 lead in the fifth set until the Nittany Lions won four straight points to go up 5-4. After Ursinus went up 6-5, the Nittany Lions seemingly gained control after winning six straight points to go up 11-6. The Bears won four straight points to get within one at 11-10 before Abington got back-to-back points to go up 13-10. Ursinus delivered five straight points to steal the set and match at 15-13 which was ended by an ace by Stevenson.
Ursinus returns to action on Saturday, October 24
th as they will host Bryn Mawr for Senior Day at 1:00 p.m.
