Aug. 27, 2010

Final Stats

PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle Volleyball team fell in four sets to Valparaiso, 12-25, 25-20, 18-25, 16-25, in the nightcap of day one at the La Salle Invitational. 

After dropping the first set, the Explorers rallied to win the second before Valparaiso took the final two sets.

“Tonight we matured a lot,” head coach Dave Stever said. “We made some real progress against a good team.”

Lauren Noga paced the Explorers’ attack with a match-high ten kills, while Jackie Mitrovich added seven.  Breanna Mazalewski and Samantha Tulskie each contributed 16 digs. 

Valparaiso came out strong in the first set, stringing together early rallies of four and six points on the serves of Andrea Balsis and Sarah Dooms, respectively.  The Explorers couldn’t counter, falling 12-25.

In the second set, the teams traded points until La Salle took its first lead of the set at 11-10 when Valparaiso’s Jenny Pokorny misshit the ball into the net.

Later in the set, Jackie Mitrovich began a three-point rally for La Salle with a kill and the Explorers extended their lead to 20-15.

A kill by Tulskie that Valopo’s Taylor Root couldn’t handle gave the Explorers their biggest lead of the set at 23-17 and helped put the Crusaders away for good. 

Valparaiso went on a 3-0 run to begin the third set.  La Salle recovered and held the lead briefly at 11-10 after Kelly Scanlon was set up for a kill by Kourtney Clark.  A five-point Crusaders run put the set out of reach for the Explorers.

La Salle again had to play from behind in the fourth set after the Crusaders took an early 4-1 lead.  The Explorers brought the score within one, but couldn’t overtake Valparaiso.

Kate Layman led the Crusaders with nine kills on the evening and Taylor Root added a match-high 27 digs.  

La Salle will take the court tomorrow morning at 10:00 am against Niagara before meeting Hartford at 7:00 pm in the final game of the La Salle Invitational.

Niagara defeated Hartford 3-0 in the opening match of the tournament.