No. 1 Brandywine Sweeps DuBois; Advances To PSUAC Title Match

MEDIA, Pa. -- Penn State Brandywine will aim to win its second Penn State University Athletic Championship on Tuesday night after the top-seeded Lions ousted No. 4 Penn State DuBois in three sets (25-16, 29-27, 25-21) during the tournament semifinals on Saturday afternoon in their home gym.

Brandywine (24-2) will have a familiar opponent in the championship match in No. 3 Penn State Fayette, the same team the Lions have faced during each of their previous four appearances in the title match. During the most recent championship matchup in 2015, Brandywine edged Fayette 3-1 to win its first-ever PSUAC championship.

The Lions, who have now won 18-straight games, rallied from an early 3-1 deficit during set No. 1, taking the lead for the first time at 4-3 on a kill by Nikki Poissant (Aston, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara). Neither team led by more than two points until Brandywine put together a 5-1 run, capped by a Poissant kill that upped the Lions' edge to 17-13. DuBois scored the next three points; however, the Lions closed the set with an 8-0 surge aided by five DuBois errors to claim the opening frame.

Brandywine withstood three DuBois set points during the second set, using kills by Poissant and Rikelle Taylor (Nottingham, Pa./Solanco) to extend the set before winning 29-27 to take a 2-0 advantage. Hannah Sarafinas' (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) kill put Brandywine in front 28-27 and a DuBois miscue handed Brandywine the set one point later.

DuBois led by as many as four points during the third stanza at 13-9, but Margot Gargus' (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East) kill began a run of five-straight Brandywine points to push the Lions in front. Nicolette Napoleon (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) served up an ace to extend the margin to 18-15, but DuBois answered with the next two points, closing within one; however, that is as close as DuBois would get the rest of the way and Gargus closed out the victory with a kill, sending Brandywine to the finals.

Gargus and Poissant combined to record over half of Brandywine's 44 kills as Poissant tallied 14 and Gargus collected 10. Napoleon added five kills, while Taylor and Lauren Kelly (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East) both recorded four.

Sullivan Stark (Middletown, Del./William Penn) dished out 35 assists and registered eight digs, three digs and four kills. Poissant tallied three aces and Napoleon recorded a pair.

Defensively, Sarafinas and Kelly each totaled three blocks, while Taylor amassed two. Becca Civera (Boothwyn, Pa./Chichester) led the team with 12 digs and Poissant added eight. Gargus and Kelly both collected six.

Brandywine and Fayette will square off Tuesday night at 7:00 pm inside of Rec Hall in State College.