WAYNESBURG, Pa. (Sept. 16) – Three Yellow Jackets posted double-digit kills as the Waynesburg University women's volleyball team earned its first victory of the season by upending Thiel College 3-2 on Wednesday night. The Yellow Jackets won the five-set Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) match by scores of 25-17, 24-26, 25-11, 25-22 and 15-8.
The victory was a historic one for Waynesburg, which ended a 12-match regular season losing streak to Thiel and a 15-match skid to the Tomcats overall. Prior to Wednesday, the Jackets' last win over the Cats came during the opening round of the 2008 PAC playoffs.
Senior
Kourtney Skinner led all players with 15 kills, including three consecutive winners in the fifth set to secure the match for Waynesburg (1-8, 1-1). Juniors
Rachel Lang and
Shannon Morgan contributed 14 and 10 kills, respectively. Freshman
Sydni Ayers played a huge part in setting up the Yellow Jacket offense by registering a collegiate career-high 42 assists.
With the match tied at one set apiece, Waynesburg seized control of the crucial third set by scoring five of the first six points. Thiel (0-10, 0-1) closed the gap to 7-6, but several Tomcat errors and a serving ace by freshman Lexi Waldman gave the home team the advantage. The Yellow Jackets scored the next five points to establish a lead they didn't relinquish. After extending the advantage to 16-8, Waynesburg closed out the set on a 9-3 run, including a stretch of eight consecutive points.
The Orange and Black nearly closed out the Tomcats in the fourth set. Waynesburg led 22-20, but the Tomcats were able to rally by rattling off five straight points to extend the match to the deciding set.
The final set was tied 5-5 before a Thiel error and three-straight kills by Skinner swung the match to Waynesburg. Skinner helped close out the victory by serving the final two points.
Waynesburg will return to action on Saturday in a conference tri-match at Thomas More. The Yellow Jackets will face the host Saints at 11 a.m., before taking on Westminster at 1 p.m.
