Painesville, Ohio – The Lake Erie College volleyball team wrapped up the Storm Classic on Saturday afternoon, splitting a pair of matches. The Storm picked up their first win of the season in their second match of the day with a sweep of Point Park (25-17, 25-17, 27-25) after dropping a five-set affair to Seton Hill (25-23, 14-25, 25-21, 17-25, 5-15).
Point Park Recap
The victory for the Storm marked the first of head coach
Hannah Zuchowski's career.
Allison Kirch led the offense with 15 kills on 27 swings, finishing with an impressive .370 hitting percentage to accompany three aces.
Sadie Nawrocki was just as efficient with 10 finishes on 19 attempts, while
Nora Larson and
Kennedy Stewart each added nine send-downs while going error-free.
The Pioneers were within striking distance at 11-9 early in the first set, but a 9-2 flurry by the Storm that featured three Nawrocki kills swelled the lead to 20-11, leaving no doubt of the eventual outcome.
LEC picked up right where it left off in the second, racing out to a 12-5 advantage. The Storm margin would eventually reach double digits on
Ni'yah Fuggs kill that made it 21-11.
It was a much different story in the third set as the two foes essentially traded points till the finish. In total, the session featured 13 ties and five lead changes. Kirch was clutch with six of her 15 kills coming in the frame.
LEC trailed 19-15 but fought back to even at 19-19. Lake Erie later had a match point opportunity with a 24-22 advantage, but the Pios leveled it with two straight points. It was later knotted at 25-25, but Lake Erie was able to finish off the sweep with back-to-back kills from Kirch and Nawrocki.
Seton Hill Recap
It was a seesaw affair with the Griffins as Lake Erie took the first and third sets.
Nawrocki led the way at the net with 17 kills against just four errors for a .351 clip, while Kirch, who was named to the Storm Classic Tournament Team, added 12 finishes. Larson also added nine in the loss.
Lake Erie had four players turn in double-digit digs, with
Bella Kessler pacing the group with 16. Kirch contributed 14, while
Kylie Anderson and Ceceila Mullen each posted 12.
LEC trailed early in set one but would fight to even the count at 9-9, and from that point on, no more than one point would be the differential on the scoreboard till the end. A Larson kill would give the Storm set point, and a Griffins error followed to stake the home side to the early advantage.
After SHU controlled the second set, Lake Erie restored its form in the third set, grabbing a 4-3 lead and would never trail the rest of the way.
Unfortunately, the Griffins would bounce back in the fourth and fifth sets to finish the weekend undefeated.
Catie Flohr of Seton Hill, and Brooke Bednarski of Point Park joined Kirch on the all-tournament team along with Marley Annis of Slippery Rock.
LEC returns to action next weekend at the Crimson Hawk Classic on the campus of IUP.
