PITTSBURGH, Pa. – La Roche volleyball hosted a tri-match on Saturday, beginning with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Wells in AMCC play, as six seniors were celebrated pregame, then later in the day, fell in another 3-2 thriller to Westminster.
GAME 1: La Roche 3 Wells 2
Set one was an extra point, back-and-forth slugfest, as the Redhawks pulled out a 30-28 victory, having to come back to pull out the set.
Wells jumped ahead fast, hitting the midway point quickly, leading 16-7.
La Roche would claw its way back, scoring 12 of the next 15 points to the match 19-19.
The Redhawks finally grabbed the lead when the score read 24-23, but the teams alternated points.
Trailing again, 28-27, La Roche closed the set with the final three points, with the benefit of two Wells errors to close out the victory.
The Redhawks rode the momentum into the second set, opening up an early 11-3 lead.
The Express would trim that deficit to 15-11, but La Roche dominated down the stretch, scoring 10 of the final 11 points to win set two, 25-12.
Set three once again saw the Redhawks jump ahead to a 7-3 lead, but Wells countered with a 12-4 run to lead 15-11 at the midway point.
Both teams alternated two or three points at a time, and with the score sitting 20-19 in favor of the Express, Wells pulled out a 5-0 to take set three 25-19.
Wells again had a lot of success in set four, despite trailing 5-2 in the early going, scored 14 of the next 18 points to storm ahead 16-9.
The Redhawks managed to trim the deficit to just four points at 17-13, but was the closest they'd come, as the Express forced the deciding fifth set with a second consecutive 25-19 win.
In the tiebreak fifth set, La Roche clicked on all cylinders early, jumping ahead 8-1.
Still leading 13-6 late, Wells would find itself right back in it, using a 7-1 run to make it 14-13, but the Redhawks closed it out the very next point to close the match with a 15-13 win.
Junior Quinn Hughes had a career best game, throwing down a career high 17 kills with a .438 hitting percentage and eight total blocks (four solo/four assisted).
Sophomore Kalli Grine matched her career high of 15 kills in the win, while adding four solo blocks and an assisted block to her total.
In the assist box, senior's Madison Johnson and Emily Kasun combined for 42, with Johnson having a career high 27 and Kasun adding in 15.
Defensively, senior Mackenzie Kerkan pulled in 34 digs, while fellow senior Lauren Tomasko had 17 and Morgan Johnson earned the double-double with 14.
GAME 2: Westminster 3 La Roche 2
Game two of the day saw La Roche take on Westminster, with both teams utilizing a lot of reserve players after each team played long matchups early in the day.
Set one was all Titans, who jumped ahead 7-0, then pushed the lead to 20-12.
The Redhawks gave a charge, scoring four straight points, to make it 20-16, but Westminster countered to score five of the final six points to take set one 25-17.
Set two, the script was reversed, as it was La Roche jumping ahead 9-3 in the early going.
Still leading 16-11 just past the midway point, the Redhawks saw the lead slip away, as the Titans would score 14 of the final 18 points to take set two by a score of 25-20.
Once again, in set three, La Roche started fast with a 6-1 lead, but despite Westminster trimming that deficit to one on multiple occasions, including tying the set at 13-13, the Redhawks would never relinquish the lead, forcing a fourth set with a 25-18 win.
Set four was a set of runs, after the scoring was even 7-7 early.
The runs after that point went 3-0 Westminster, 4-0 La Roche, 3-0 Titans, 4-0 Redhawks, then 3-0 Westminster to have the score sit 16-15 in favor of the Titans.
La Roche would see itself trail a little late, 21-18, but managed to reel off seven of the set's final eight points to win 25-22 and force a second fifth set match of the day.
The Redhawks clicked early in set five, leading 6-2 out of the gate, and held that lead 8-4 at the flip of the court.
However, after switching sides, Westminster went on a 5-0 run to gain the lead and a total run of 8-2 to hold a 12-10 edge.
La Roche again clawed its way back, taking a 13-12 lead after a 3-0 run, but back-to-back attack errors by the Redhawks and a kill from the Titans gave Westminster a 3-0 run to close the match 15-13.
Freshman Aislyn Williams was the offensive leader for La Roche, with 14 throughout the match, while senior Lauren Tomasko added 11 and sophomore Gianna Zamperini chipped in 10.
Freshmen setters Tanner Kephart and Taylor Campbell played extremely well, as Kephart put together 21 kills, while Campbell added in 13.
Defensively, four players reached double digit digs. Senior Morgan Johnson had a game high 29, with Kephart earning a double-double with 19, Tomasko also hitting a double-double with 18 and Kerkan in limited action added 10.
The Redhawks continue the four game home stand to end the season on Tuesday, Oct. 31 when they host Penn State Altoona in AMCC play. The match is schedule to begin at 7 p.m.