As the regular season came to a close, the Elizabethtown College women’s volleyball team prepared for the 2013 Commonwealth Conference Women’s volleyball tournament.
Over this past weekend, the team hosted Cabrini College and Shenandoah University during the Elizabethtown Tri-Match.
During Saturday’s first match against Cabrini, the Cavaliers had their way winning all three sets with 25-11 in the first, 25-21 in the second and a close 26-24 in the third set. Cabrini’s Cassidy Koenig consistently set Danielle Carrozza in the first set, giving Carrozza a match-high 17 kills. Koenig ended the match with 40 assists and the Cavaliers brought home the win 3-0.
After a three set loss, the Blue Jays turned their Saturday around and raced past Shenandoah with a 3-1 win. The opening set looked good for Etown with a 25-22 end score. However, the Hornets snuck past the Blue Jays in the second match to end with a score of 26-24. The Blue Jays were successful in the third and fourth matches, leading them to victory over the Hornets.
Senior Carolyn Lukiewski broke Etown’s 10-year-old record of career digs bringing in 19 throughout the tournament. She started her first-year off with 414 digs. In her sophomore year, Lukiewski was the team’s main setter and brought in 284 digs. During the last two seasons, she has collected over 1,000 digs and currently records 1917 in total. “It’s so nice to see hard work pay off and have my parents be proud of me,” Lukiewski said. “I feel responsible for helping the girls through their career both at the school and in volleyball. I love working with the girls in any way that I can.”
“The most rewarding thing about this season has been watching us come together as a team through tough times and winning streaks. Now, we play well as a team,” sophomore Mary Clyne said, who had four aces and 16 assists in the match against Shenandoah. Sophomore Steph High recorded 29 assists against the Hornets.
Being the No. 4 seed in the tournament, Etown prepared to go up against No. 5 Lycoming College on Monday, Nov. 4 for their first Commonwealth Conference playoff game. The Blue Jays finished this four-game match with a win against the Warriors.
The team’s win over Lycoming brought their record to 18-15 overall.
Sophomore Megan McNaul served up nine of the team’s 17 aces in the victory to get the Blue Jays to the semi finals. McNaul also registered eight kills and 12 digs in the contest.
Clyne set up junior Samantha Hicks on multiple occasions for kills to help propel the Blue Jay’s to victory.
Junior Kelci Scannapieco registered her first double-double on the season with 10 kills and 10 blocks.
While rotating as setters, sophomore Steph High and Clyne combined for 42 assists on the even to help the Blue Jays to victory.
Etown then moved on to the conference semifinals where they took on the No. 1 seed Stevenson Mustangs in Maryland.
Unfortunately, the Mustangs were too much to handle for Etown as Stevenson defeated the Blue Jays in three straight sets.
The nationally-ranked Mustangs dominated all three sets, winning 15-25, 15-25, 22-25.
Scannapieco and sophomore Juliana Mowen combined for 12 kills for the Blue Jays in the loss.
Stevenson, now ranked 20th in the country, moves their record to 34-2. The Mustangs will now host Messiah College in the Commonwealth Conference Championship. Messiah advanced to the championship game with a 3-2 victory on Lebanon Valley College.
The loss brings the team’s season to a close with a record of 18-16.The loss also brings to a close the career of Lukiewski. With a large nucleus of young players, look for volleyball to compete for a MAC championship next year.
