WASHINGTON – The Gallaudet University Bison won its 20th consecutive match Saturday in the quarterfinal round of the United East Conference tournament, defeating the Keystone College Giants, 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 28-26).
Top-seed Gallaudet (28-4) advances to the semifinal round, and will host No. 4 seed Penn State Harrisburg on Tuesday, Nov. 12, in the Field House. Penn State Harrisburg defeated No. 5 seed Cairn University, 3-1, earlier in the day.
Keystone, the No. 8 seed, was tenacious throughout the match. After falling behind 13-3 in the first set, the Giants narrowed the gap to just seven points before Gallaudet regained its momentum. The Giants raced out to a 5-1 lead in the second set, though Gallaudet recovered and took a 13-7 lead. The two teams traded points up to 21-17, when the Bison were able to ice the set.
The third set, however, provided much drama, with Keystone leading by as much as six points. There were 10 tie scores and five lead changes in the deciding set.
Sophomore outside hitter
Brielle Worley (Amarillo, Texas) led the Bison attack with 19 kills, committing only two errors in the process, to finish with a .436 hitting percentage. She leads all NCAA Division III players with 522 kills. Senior opposite
Cassidy Perry (Frederick, Md.) added nine kills.
Junior setter
Ella Gamble (Cullowhee, N.C.) had 39 assists, all but one of the team's 40 in the match. Junior outside hitter
Citrine Lummer (Frederick, Md.) contributed seven kills and 14 digs and junior libero
Nicole Hicks (Corona, Calif.) had 13 digs. Hicks also recorded four service aces, giving her 57 for the season. The team as a whole has tallied 407, the highest in NCAA Division III.
Sophomore middle hitter
Jada Zarembka (Riverside, Calif.) had one solo block and three block assists.
Keystone (20-7) was led by sophomore outside hitter Adrianna Derrick with 10 kills.
BISON TRACKS
- This was the first meeting of the season between Keystone College and Gallaudet. Keystone is in La Plume, Pa., in the Lackawanna Valley, 11 miles north of Scranton. Founded in 1968, it was a two-year school until 2000, when it began to offer four-year degrees.
- This was also head coach Lynn Ray Boren's 1,000th career match, including both high school and college play. "It is an honor to have coached for this long with such outstanding players year in and year out," he said. Prior to coaching at Gallaudet, Coach Boren was the head coach at Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD). Boren spent nine years coaching at MSSD, including seven years as head coach where he won 217 games and four national championships.
- Today's attendance was 373, with a sizeable contingent of Keystone fans.
- In the other United East Conference playoff matches today, No. 2 seed Lancaster Bible College defeated No. 7 seed Penn State-Abingdon, 3-1. Lancaster Bible will host the other semifinal match on Tuesday as the Chargers will play host to No. 3 St. Mary's College of Maryland, who defeated No. 6 Notre Dame College of Maryland by the score of 3-1.
UP NEXT
GU will face Penn State Harrisburg (18-7) for a second time this season. The two squads met last month as GU escaped Middletown, Pa., with a 3-2 victory. That was GU's third five-set match victory this season. The game time will be announced soon once it is confirmed by both teams.
