ALTOONA, Pa. – La Roche volleyball took top seeded Penn State Altoona to the limit in Saturday's AMCC Tournament Semifinal, but in the end it was the Lions coming out victorious 3-2.
It was a thrilling open to the match for the Redhawks, as they jumped ahead 2-0 with set victories of 28-26 and 25-17.
In set one, La Roche overcame early struggles to force extra points to take a 1-0 match lead.
Penn State Altoona opened the match on fire, leading by scores of 9-2, 11-4 and 13-6.
The Redhawks countered with a 10-3 run to tie the match 16-16 and as the teams went back-and-forth trading point, La Roche moved to set point at 24-22.
Despite being halted for the time being by the Lions, as they tied the set 24-24, the Redhawks bounced back seeing a deficit of 26-25, ending the set with three straight points to open the early lead.
Set two was all La Roche, jumping ahead 21-9. However, Penn State Altoona would climb back in, but never close enough, scoring eight of 10 points to make it 23-17, but the Redhawks shut the door to take a 25-17 victory and set itself one set away from a trip to the championship.
Unfortunately for La Roche, the Lions found its groove in set three, cruising to a 25-14 victory, then in set four, tied the match 2-2, doing so by pushing ahead 16-8 and closing out the set win at 25-18.
It came down to the fifth and final set, and it was the Redhawks forcing the top seeded Lions behind early, leading 6-4.
Once again, the pendulum swung in favor of Penn State Altoona, who countered the deficit with an 8-1 run to gain a 12-7 lead and end La Roche's upset bid with a 15-10 win.
In the hard-fought defeat, sophomore Kalli Grine led the Redhawks with 16 kills, followed by junior Quinn Hughes who chipped in 11.
In the assist box, senior Madison Johnson had the team high of 16, followed by fellow senior's Emily Kasun and Mackenzie Kerkan with eight each.
Kerkan notched a game-high 34 digs defensively for La Roche, while five others reached double figures, including Madison Johnson who had 15 for the double-double.
Despite the defeat, the Redhawks close the season with great success on the court, finishing with an overall mark of 16-11, the first winning record in a season since 2018 and came just points shy of a trip to the championship game.