WASHINGTON – A two-set lead wasn't enough for the Gallaudet University women's volleyball team Monday night as Penn St.-Abington rallied for a 3-2 victory in the Bison's home and United East Conference opener before a raucous 348 in the Field House.
Gallaudet (7-1, 0-1 United East) received career performances from senior outside hitters
Brielle Worley (Amarillo, Texas) and
Jada Zarembka (Riverside, Calif.), who combined for 52 of the Bison's 58 kills.
Worley put down a career-high 31 kills to surpass her previous best of 30, accomplished twice during the opening weeks of the 2025 season. She added 10 digs, four service aces and a career-high five blocks (four solo). Zarembka established career highs with 21 kills and 27 digs to go with four service aces and one block assist.
Gallaudet won the opening two sets, 25-23 and 25-21, as the Bison hit .222 and .241, respectively. Penn St.-Abington (7-3, 1-0 United East) began to turn the match around in the third set as the Nittany Lions hit .282 en route to a 21-25 win.
The Bison remained in position to close out the match in the fourth set and held a 20-19 lead before Penn St.-Abington scored six of the final seven points to win 21-25 and force a decisive fifth set.
The teams battled back-and-forth in the fifth before the Nittany Lions pulled out a 13-15 win to complete the reverse sweep. The match featured 36 ties and 19 lead changes.
GU first-year setter
Gracie Gloster (Clark, N.J.) posted career highs with 52 assists, 18 digs and two blocks, while first-year libero
Tori Harris (Stockbridge, Ga.) collected a career-high 28 digs. Harris' previous best was 20 digs in Gallaudet's five-set victory over Geneva College on Sept. 5.
Sophomore middle hitter
Kayla Debrow (Jacksonville, Fla.) finished with four blocks, including one solo. It marked the third time this season and sixth time in her career that Debrow has recorded four or more blocks in a match.
Gallaudet finished with 58 kills and hit .207 for the match. The Bison served 14 aces and recorded 11 team blocks but committed 19 attack errors and 14 service errors. Penn St.-Abington also totaled 58 kills, 22 attack errors and hit .203 with 104 digs, 13 aces and nine service errors.
Senior outside hitter Zayna Jamaladdin led the Nittany Lions with 17 kills and hit .280, while first-year outside hitter Kamilla Voinalovich added 13 kills, 11 digs and six service aces. Junior libero Fabiola Medina turned in a match-high 37 digs, while senior setter Ryenn Mamrosch passed out 48 assists and made 13 digs.
Monday's match also served as Mental Health Awareness Night, presented by GU Athletics and Gallaudet University's Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). The Bison and Nittany Lions came together for a group photo before the match in support of mental health awareness. CAPS representatives were also on hand and distributed free mental health awareness T-shirts to those in attendance.
The match began nearly 20 minutes later than scheduled after Penn St.-Abington encountered traffic on a rainy Monday evening in the nation's capital and lasted more than two hours and 30 minutes.
BISON TRACKS
- Gallaudet's 7-0 start was its best to begin a season during Head Coach Lynn Ray Boren's 21-year tenure.
- Monday marked Gallaudet's first five-set loss since Sept. 6, 2023, at Marymount (Va.) University.
- The Bison had won 10 consecutive five-set matches since that setback and are now 1-1 in five-set matches this season.
- Gallaudet is 71-33 (.683) in five-set matches during Boren's tenure dating back to 2005.
- This was Gallaudet's first reverse-sweep loss since Oct. 24, 2021, when conference foe Penn St.-Berks rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Bison in five sets in Lancaster, Pa.
- Monday was Gallaudet's first home-opening loss since Sept. 22, 2021, against the University of Mary Washington.
- The Bison had won four consecutive home openers from 2022-25 and are now 13-8 (.619) in home openers under Coach Boren.
UP NEXT
Gallaudet will have to quickly turn the page as the Bison make the short trip to the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Sept. 23, to face The Catholic University of America (3-6) at 7 p.m.
