Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 BERKS BOXSCORE GALLAUDET BOXSCORE
The Keuka College women's volleyball team was able to rally from one two-set deficit to advance into the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) championship match, but the Storm couldn't rally from a second two-set deficit in the title game and fell to host Gallaudet (D.C.) University Saturday afternoon.
The Storm (24-8), who set a school record for most wins in a season, were seeded second for the annual postseason tournament and rallied to defeat No. 3 Penn State-Berks in five sets to advance into the championship.
Keuka lost the first two sets, 18-25 and 15-25 before winning 25-16, 29-27 and 16-14 to advance into its first NEAC title match since 2006.
Just like in the semis, the Green and Gold dropped the first two sets to the Bison, but this time there was no comeback as the Storm fell in three sets by scores of 25-19, 25-8 and 25-13
Facing top-seeded Gallaudet (31-6) in the championship, the Green and Gold took a 4-3 lead in the first set after an ace from sophomore Danielle Alred (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads). But the Bison went on a 12-5 run to take a 15-9 lead.
Junior Deliane Lessard (Rochester, NY/Genesee Community College) and freshman Morgan Eberley (Utica, NY/Whitesboro) each had kills as the Storm clawed within 20-16, but the Bison was too much and won the first set en route to the sweep and their third straight NEAC postseason championship.
Gallaudet earns the conference's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Division III tournament.
Freshman Morgan Eberley (No. 15) and sophomore Devan Curtis (No. 5) each had double-digit kills as Keuka's women's volleyball team advanced into the NEAC championship (photo courtesy of Erik Holmes, Keuka College Sports Information Department).
Junior Paige Golden (Kent, NY/Albion) finished with 12 digs and four kills, classmate Taylor Smith (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) added 11 digs and sophomore Devan Curtis (San Clemente, CA/San Clemente) had 4 kills, 2 digs and 1 block in the title match for Keuka.
Junior Jill Nolan (Johnson City, NY/Maine-Endwell) finished with eight assists and six digs while classmate Rachel Parker (Chaumont, NY/Thousand Islands) added 8 assists, 3 aces and 3 digs for the Storm.
Four different student-athletes compiled double-digit kills as the Storm rallied past Berks in the semifinals.
Golden recorded 26 digs with 14 kills and 3 blocks while Eberley added 12 kills, 3 digs and 3 blocks and Smith had 36 digs as Keuka won its fifth straight match.
Curtis added 15 digs and 13 kills, Lessard had 12 kills and Nolan and Parker each posted double-doubles in the win. Nolan had 26 assists with 13 digs while Parker added 24 assists and 19 digs.
The Storm last won NEAC's in 2004 and have lost in the conference championship in 2005, 2006 and 2012.
Smith, who led the Storm in digs with 534, established a new season-best for digs in a season. Golden, who led the Storm in kills (372) and was second in digs (468), finished with the third-most kills in a season and the most total attacks (1,195) in a season in school history.
