November 3, 2015
Grove City falls in PAC Tournament
GROVE CITY, Pa. -- Three players reached double-digit kills and the Grove City College women's volleyball team rallied from a large deficit in the fourth set but came up just short as the fourth-seeded Wolverines fell to No. 5 seed Westminster 3-1 in the opening round of the Presidents' Athletic Conference Tournament on Tuesday in front of a raucous crowd at the Grove City College Arena. The Wolverines (15-17) won game one 25-22 before falling 25-23, 25-20 and 25-23.
Freshman Laura Buchanan (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin) paced the Wolverines with 12 kills while sophomore Hannah Foster (Sugarcreek, Ohio/Garaway) and senior Natalija Galens (Covert, Mich./Grace Christian) added 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Senior Libbie Casey (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North) posted eight kills and sophomore Jamie Robatisin (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) added seven.
Senior setter Amy Trageser (Marriottsville, Md./Chapelgate Christian) dished out a match-high 46 assists and added 14 digs. Sophomore libero Beka Russell (North Canton, Ohio/Cuyahoga Valley Christian) led the Grove City back row with a match-high 25 digs while Galens recorded 17 and Robatisin 16. Junior Lexie Schwartz (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shaler) also reached double figures with 13.
Galens and Casey each recorded four blocks to lead the Wolverines.
After falling behind 3-0 in the first set, the Wolvereines would rattle off five straight points on the serve of Schwartz to take a 5-3 lead and would never trail after that, winning 25-22. Casey and Robatisin each pounded three kills in the first-set win.
Grove City would lead 10-7 in the second set before Westminster (13-23) went on a 10-4 run, fueled by five Wolverine errors, to take a 17-14 lead. The Wolverines would rally back, leading as late in the set as 23-22, but a Megan Prybyl kill would even the score and Westminster would go on to win 25-23 on a pair of Wolverine attack errors.
Westminster would never trail in a 25-20 set three victory and appeared as if they might roll in set four after jumping out to a big 10-2 victory. After trading points to make the score 11-3, the Wolverines would battle back, rolling off five straight points on Trageser's serve. Galens came up with a big kill after a long rally and Casey followed with a pair of smashes on from the middle to close the gap to 11-6. A pair of Titan errors would bring Grove City within three at 11-8 before losing serve on an error.
The Titan lead would continue to alternate between three and four points, but once again on Trageser's serve, the Wolverines would go on a 5-0 run. Trageser won the serve back on her own on a dump kill to bring the Wolverines within 18-15. Foster spotted a roll for a kill and Galens and Casey would team for a block to bring the Wolverines within one. Trageser then put a serve in a difficult spot for the Titan defense, getting the ace to tie the match at 18-18 and prompt a Westminster timeout.
Casey would smash yet another kill to give the Wolverines their first lead of the set at 19-18, but Prybyl would tie the score with a kill once again, and Westminster would retake the lead on Grove City error. Following a Foster kill, Westminster would score two straight to lead 22-20, but Casey and Foster both responded with kills to bring Grove City back even at 22-22. Prybyl and Buchanan would trade kills to keep the set even at 23-23, but Westminster would find spots for a pair of kills to end the set 25-23 and take the match.
Tonight marked the final career match for Wolverine seniors Casey, Galens and Trageser. Trageser finishes her career ranked sixth in program history with 2,357 assists while adding 879 career digs. Galens concluded with career numbers of 732 kills and 985 digs while Casey posted 287 kills and 272 digs over her four years.
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