Pioneers Split Day Two Of The Penn State Behrend Invite

Erie, PA- Pioneers  split the day after taking down Utica 3-1 (25-22, 25-14, 22-25, 25-20), before falling to Grove City 3-0 (18-25, 25-27, 10-25). Alfred State moves to 3-3 on the season.

vs Utica

Racquel Gerstenberger (Schoharie, NY) and Alayna Tomlinson (Rochester, NY) both tallied double digit kill numbers with Gerstenberger leading the way with 15 kills and 13 digs. She also added two aces. Tomlinson notched 14 kills with seven digs and five aces. Nayomie Ferrer Santiago (San Juan, PR) also came away with a double-double, tallying 35 assists and 23 digs while adding six aces. Kelsey Walker (West Seneca, NY) ended the game with a team-high seven aces.

Gerstenberger got the day starting with a kill, after a Utica point Alfred would go on a 11-2 run to set control of the set. On the run, Gerstenberger and Emma Petrichick (Belmont, NY) notched two aces, Tomlinson came away with three kills to go along with some Utica errors. Utica then went on a short run to cut the lead down to three, before Brianna Green (Cuba, NY) , Tomlinson, and Ferrer notched kills to make it 19-13.  The Pioneers were able to hold to take the set.

Joining set two when the score was 12-11 in favor of AState, the Pioneers went on another long run to take the set. That was a 9-2 run that featured four aces from Walker, and kills from Gerstenberger, Tomlinson and Ferrer.

Utica rebounded to take set three, before Alfred took set four. The Pioneers started slow falling behind 8-3.  From there, ASC went on a run to take their first lead of the set. Tomlinson tallied three more aces, along with two kills from Gerstenberger for the 11-10 lead. A few plays later, a kill from Gerstenberger plus three Utica errors gave the Pioneers a 20-16 lead and forced a timeout. Following the timeout, Tomlinson notched three straight kills, while Green added a kill for set and match point. Summer Mattison (Cuba, NY then ended the match with a kill.

vs Grove City

Gerstenberger led the way on offense for game two as well notching 13 kills and 11 digs, while Santiago notched her second double-double of the day with 29 assists and 16 digs. Tomlinson came away with seven kills and nine digs.

The first set started tightly contested before Grove City went on a late run to win the set.

The Pioneers found their footing in the second set going on an 8-2 run to take an 11-8 lead. Four different Pioneers tallied kills on that run. Grove City then went on a run of their own to tie the set at 18-18. From there, the scoring went back-and-forth with Grove City notching the final to points to win the set.

Grove City carried their momentum into set three and won the final set to win the