Abington, Pa. - The Penn State Abington women's volleyball team rallied from two sets down to defeat Notre Dame of Maryland University in five sets in United East Conference (UEC) action on Saturday afternoon at the Marion Burt Knott Sports Complex. The win kept the team's season-long winning streak intact at nine straight victories which is now the longest in the program's Division III era.
Score: Penn State Abington 3, Notre Dame 2 (26-28, 23-25, 25-19, 25-23, 15-12)
Records: Penn State Abington (15-2, 2-0 UEC) | Notre Dame (9-7, 1-1 UEC)
Location: Baltimore, Md. (Knott Sports Complex)
How It Happened
* Abington faced a 2-0 hole in the match after dropping the first two matches. The Nittany Lions had to quickly overcome a 5-1 deficit in the third set to stay alive in the match. Abington tied the set at 5-5 and then exchanged points with the Gators on its way to three straight points to lead 8-6. The Gators tied the match at 8-8 with back-to-back kills before Abington regained the lead off three straight errors by the home team to lead 11-8. From there on out, the Nittany Lions never trailed in the set and took the set, 25-19.
* In the fourth set the Gators opened with an 8-3 run, however the Nittany Lions rallied with four straight points to come within one point of the lead at 8-7. Later in the set the Nittany Lions trailed 18-16 and ripped off three straight points to grab the lead for the first time at 19-18. Both teams exchanged the next three points to find the set tied again at 20-20. Back-to-back attack errors by the Gators gave the Nittany Lions a 22-20 lead, but once again Notre Dame found a way to tie the set at 23-23. A kill followed by sophomore Kayla Mason and at set-point, the Nittany Lions clinched the set thanks to a Gators' attack error to win 25-23.
* In the fifth and decisive set, the Nittany Lions trailed 4-2 but a 4-0 run gave Abington a 6-4 lead after a service ace from freshman Fabiola Medina. The Gators came within one point of the lead three times before tying the set at 9-9. Both teams flip flopped points to keep the set tied at 10-10 before Abington scored three straight points with sophomore Zayna Jamaladdin registering the kill to make the score 11-10. Two errors by the Gators gave Abington a three-point lead in the set. The scoring went back-and-forth for the final four points of the set with the final kill by freshman Ellie Van Otten clinching the win for the Nittany Lions at 15-12.
Inside the Box Score
* Jamaladdin recorded a career-high 17 kills to go along with three block assists and five digs.
* Junior Alyssa Flickinger also recorded double-digit kills as she finished the match with 11 and a .320 attack percentage.
* Van Otten added nine kills and seven digs, while Mason finished the day with eight kills and seven digs.
* Freshman McKinley Grimm totaled a match-high 38 assists; one shy of her season-high. She also recorded a season-high 27 digs.
* Medina also set a season-high in digs as she totaled 40 to go along with three aces.
* Freshman Angel Morales finished the match with season-high 14 digs.
* Sophomore Brynn Atkins recorded a career-high six block assists to go along with four kils and three digs.
* For Notre Dame, Emma Mueller recorded a match-high 19 kills, while Paulina Hernandez finished with a match-high 47 digs.
Team Records Set
Abington recorded a single match record of 235 total attacks. It's just the fourth time in the program's Division III era that the Nittany Lions fired off over 200 attacks in a single match. The team also tied the record for most digs in a match with 120. Abington recorded 120 digs versus Keuka back in 2012.
All-Time Series
Today marked the eighth meeting between Abington and Notre Dame since the start of the 2012 season. The Nittany Lions are now 5-3 versus the Gators in the all-time series.
Next Up
Abington returns to action on Wednesday, Oct. 9 as the Nittany Lions travel to face Lancaster Bible College in United East action. Match time is set for 7 p.m.
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