Women’s Volleyball Swept By Penn State Berks, St. Elizabeth

LANCASTER, Pa. – The Wells College women's volleyball team dropped back-to-back 3-0 contests to the Nittany Lions of Penn State Berks and the Screaming Eagles of the College of Saint Elizabeth Saturday afternoon to conclude the third week of North Eastern Athletic Conference Pool Play. Following the losses, the Express' overall record stands at 2-27 while their conference mark stands at 1-10.

Freshman Gina Cairns (Delhi, N.Y.) led the team with seven kills against the Nittany Lions, but Penn State Berks (17-8, 8-2 NEAC) collected the victory via set scores of 25-13, 25-22 and 25-10. In the first set, the Express trailed by five near the midpoint of the match with a score of 15-10 in favor of the Nittany Lions, but the Express only accumulated three points across the remainder of the match to draw the loss.

In the second set, the Express possessed the 16-15 advantage but were unable to hold on to their slim lead. As a team, the Express powered home five service aces in the middle stanza as both Nicole Loeven (Pawling, N.Y.) and Caitlyn Copfer (Clinton, N.Y.) each earned two apiece. Cairns also forced home a team-best three kills in the second set.

Primary setter Taryn Heath (Homer, N.Y.) posted a team-best 15 assists while also collecting a team-best nine digs to her credit. Freshman Zakarra Butts (Cortland, N.Y.) led the way with 1.5 blocks on the match while Claire Stevens (Ithaca, N.Y.) contributed one solo block. For the Nittany Lions, Kayla Mosser recorded nine kills while Abby Musselman set up 29 of the team's 37 kills. Defensively, Victoria Young led the way with 11 digs.

Against Saint Elizabeth (19-7, 5-5 NEAC), the Express lost by set scores of 25-19, 25-14 and 25-21. Cairns once again led the way with six kills on the match. Heath again assisted more than half of the team's kills (12) while outside hitter Katie Curtin (Cassville, N.Y.) led the team with nine digs. Leilani Yasutake (Germantown, N.Y.) recorded the team's lone solo block. Cairns and Loeven each chipped in two service aces in the final game of the afternoon.

For the Screaming Eagles, Subhana Wrights led the way with 10 kills. Amy Cooper posted 23 assists while she tied Katie Cooper and Rachel Hausler with 10 digs apiece. Jenae Goodson recorded four service aces while Wrights accumulated two solo blocks on the afternoon.

With the conference calendar coming to an end this afternoon, Butts led all players with a .173 hitting percentage against opponents within the conference, forcing home 49 kills alongside 22 errors. Heath contributed 165 total assists, averaging 4.02 per set against conference foes. Loeven posted a team-best mark of 3.42 digs per set in league play.

The Express return to action on Friday, Oct. 26 as they face-off against SUNY Canton to open up the Houghton College Invitational in Houghton, N.Y. at 6:00 p.m.  Stay up to date with the latest news directly from the Wells College athletic department by "liking" us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/WellsExpress) and subscribing to our Twitter account (http://www.twitter.com/WellsExpress).