Lions Sweep York; Advance To PSUAC Semifinals

MEDIA, Pennsylvania -- Second-seeded Penn State Brandywine held off seventh-seeded York, sweeping the Pennsylvania State University Athletic Conference volleyball quarterfinal match 3-0 (25-9, 25-14, 25-23) on Wednesday night as the Lions advanced to the tournament's semifinal round for the third consecutive year.

Brandywine (20-7) will host No. 3 seed Penn State Mont Alto on Friday at 7:00 pm with the winner moving into the PSUAC Tournament championship, which will be held Sunday afternoon at Rec Hall in University Park.

The Lions stormed out to a 7-1 lead during the first set and extended their edge to 17-4 following a pair of kills by freshman Melanie Kempf (Oxford, Pa./Oxford). Back-to-back kills from junior Kirsten Jerla (Springfield, Pa./Notre Dame) made the score 24-9 and the Lions closed out the set following a York ball-handling error.

Brandywine again jumped on York early in the second set, pushing its lead as large as 16-6 with a kill from junior Molly Nichols (Lenni, Pa./Penncrest). York rallied to within eight points; however the Lions finished off the set with help from two service errors by York.

York grabbed a 4-2 lead during the final frame, but Brandywine answered with seven consecutive points to move in front 9-4. Brandywine led 23-15 after Kempf's kill; however, York tallied eight of the next nine points to close within 24-23 before a service error handed Brandywine the set.

Kempf led all players with nine kills and added two blocks, while Jerla and freshman Nicole Poissant (Aston, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) both collected eight kills. Poissant registered 11 assists and junior Miranda Biondi (Newtown Square, Pa./Marple Newtown) delivered 18.

Junior Kimberly Russo (West Chester, Pa./West Chester East) led the Lions with eight digs, while Jerla tallied five and junior Nicole Costa (Landsdowne, Pa./Upper Darby) tallied a match-high three blocks.

York received seven kills from Jasmine Berry and six digs from Whitney Brown.