Lions Drop Season Finale To PSU DuBois

Playing in their final match of the 2017 campaign, the Penn State New Kensington Lions dropped a home tilt to Penn State DuBois, 3-0. New Kensington challenged the visitors in the first two sets, 25-19 and 25-22, before dropping the final set 25-12.

With the loss, the Lions conclude their season with a record of 6-10 in Penn State University Athletic Conference action, and 7-13 overall. Conversely, Penn State DuBois improved its mark to 11-2 in conference play, and 18-3 overall.

In the opening set, Penn State New Kensington and Penn State DuBois battled back and forth, exchanging the lead multiple times. The visitors gained command at 16-12, but the lead was short lived, as New Kensington pulled even with junior Cora Rejniak at the service line. DuBois regained the lead, however, and never relinquished it to take the first set.

The second set played out similarly to the first, with neither team able to create separation early. The homestanding Lions held a 19-17 lead, but DuBois used an 8-3 run to close out the set.

Finally, DuBois displayed its dominance in the third set, keyed by terrific work on the service line. Senior Tosha Hahn, and sophomore Keara Shrefler, in particular, propelled DuBois, as they each guided the visitors to five-consecutive points during their serves.

Penn State New Kensington Head Coach Dave McGeary praised the effort of his players in their season finale against a top opponent.

"Today, I think (we) played (our) best," he said. "The first two games, we were point for point with these guys. That last game, unfortunately, didn't reflect how they played today."

Penn State New Kensington, which had just seven players in uniform, was led by freshman Kaylea Flick, who had a team-best seven kills and two blocks. Flick also contributed five assists, which tied for the team-lead with sophomore Gina Batiz. Additionally, Janet Surma paced the team with 12 digs.

For DuBois, junior Melody Young and Shrefler guided the attack, as they produced 14 and 12 kills, respectively. Freshman Alyssa Simbeck provided 28 assists, while Grace Earle had 10 digs.

McGeary noted that after he struggled to find the right lineup early in the season, his team made notable strides throughout the campaign.

"When we finally settled on a lineup, we started to improve steadily. There's a couple of games where, if we just would've come together a little sooner, I think we might've been in the playoffs, but I'm proud of them, because from where we started to where we ended, we improved significantly."