September 18, 2007
Grove City rallies past Behrend, gives Roberts No. 500
ERIE, Pa. -- The Grove City College volleyball team pulled out a 30-25, 29-31, 26-30, 30-23, 15-13 victory over host Penn State Behrend Tuesday night in non-conference action at the Junker Center. The victory is the 500th at Grove City for 23rd-year head coach Susan Roberts. She is the first Grove City coach to accumulate 500 victories in one sport.
Grove City (11-1) trailed 11-4 in the final game but scored 11 of the final 13 points to earn the victory. Grove City is off to its best start since 1985.
Junior Natalie Liberati (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) led Grove City with 23 kills while senior Kate Skinner (Avon Lake, Ohio/Christian Community) recorded 17 kills. Senior Jennifer Plyler (Guys Mills, Pa./Maplewood) added 15 kills.
Senior setter Kim Walsh (Beaver, Pa./Beaver) distributed 65 assists while Liberati and senior Brooke Mincey (Grove City, Pa./Grove City) both served three aces.
Defensively, Liberati and senior Brittany Anderson (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Chagrin Falls) both recorded six blocks while Mincey had a team-leading 24 digs. Plyler had 20 digs while Walsh tallied 16 digs.
Roberts now has a 552-299 record in 25 seasons as a head volleyball coach. She is currently 11th on the wins list for active NCAA Division III women's volleyball coaches. Roberts also has 667 total coaching victories at Grove City. She coached the women's basketball program to 101 wins from 1985-93 and also coached the softball team to 66 wins from 1994-98. Roberts is the only active coach in the Presidents' Athletic Conference to win conference titles in three different sports.
As volleyball coach, Roberts has guided Grove City to nine PAC titles and seven postseason appearances.
Grove City will return to PAC play Saturday as the Wolverines host Thiel and Thomas More in a conference tri-match. Grove City will face Thiel at 10 a.m. and Thomas More at 2 p.m.
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