Defending champ Gallaudet falls in United East semifinal round

MORRISVILLE, N.Y. – There will be no repeat United East Conference championship for the Gallaudet University women’s volleyball team who fell, 3-1, to Penn St.-Berks here Friday night, in the semifinal round on the campus of SUNY Morrisville.

Second-seeded Gallaudet (19-5) knew it was going to be a battle between third-seeded Penn St.-Berks (19-9), who the Bison rallied from down 0-2 to win 3-2 last Saturday in Reading, Pa. The two teams squared off in the second match on the opening day of the United East tournament. Three of the four sets were determined by two points and two sets surpassed the 25-point threshold. 

In the end, the Nittany Lions got their revenge over the mighty Bison with a 27-25, 25-23, 25-27, 25-21 victory.

Penn St.-Berks advances to Saturday’s championship match where it will face top-seed SUNY Morrisville (22-7) who swept fourth-seeded Lancaster Bible College (18-12) in the first match of the evening.

Gallaudet’s three all-conference honorees all finished Friday’s match in double figures for kills. First-team honoree Emily Wright (Penn Valley, Calif.) led the way with 16 kills and two block assists while second-team picks Citrine Lummer (Frederick, Md.) and Cassidy Perry (Frederick, Md.) tallied 15 and 10 kills, respectively. Lummer completed the double-double with 10 digs while Perry made three block assists upfront. Junior setter Emma Giuntoli (Austin, Texas) passed out 43 assists while freshman Nicole Hicks (Corona, Calif.) made a team best 19 digs.

The Nittany Lions leaned on their own all-conference performers to lift them to victory. First-team honorees Cassie Shoupe (14 kills, 11 digs) and Julia Rathsam (43 assists, 21 digs) led the way while United East Rookie of the Year and second teamer Riley Kovach made 19 digs. 

GU lost its serving touch as it committed 12 service errors following last weekend’s performance where it made 16 service errors against Penn St.-Berks and 11 when the Bison played Wells. The 39 service errors in the last three games are more than the previous five matches combined. 

BISON TRACKS

• GU is 21-4 all-time in the United East (formerly known as NEAC) tournament
• The Bison are now 9-2 in the United East semifinal round
• Gallaudet has won the United East tournament eight different times (2010-16, ’21)

UP NEXT
This concludes the 2022 season for the volleyball program.