Volleyball Defeats Penn State Altoona to Advance to Semifinals of ECAC South Championships

Nov. 7 – (PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The Carnegie Mellon women’s volleyball hosted Penn State Altoona in the quarterfinal match of the 2007 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III South Volleyball Championships, Wednesday, November 7. With a strong outing from sophomore Jess Brackin (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) the Tartans came away with a 3-0 victory, winning 30-21, 30-14, 30-23, advancing them to the semifinal match.  The Tartans move to 21-15 on the season, as Penn State Altoona ends their 2007 campaign with a 21-9 mark.

After taking game one 30-21, the Tartans started the second game where they left off.  The Cardinal and Gray took an 8-0 lead and extended their lead to 20-4 before taking game two 30-14.  The Tartans final point came off a kill from senior right side Abbie Toney (Des Moines, Iowa/Johnston), as she finished the match with five total kills.

The Lions of Penn State Altoona did not go down without a fight in game three.  The Lions trailed 19-18 before Carnegie Mellon rattled off four straight points to take a 23-18 advantage and never looked back scoring 11 of the last 16 points of game three.  

Brackin finished the evening for the Tartans with a career-high 13 blocks, eight solo, while tallying ten kills in the win.  Senior outside hitter Kate Stepp (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) led the Tartans with a game-high 12 kills.  Sophomore setter Samantha Carter (San Antonio, Texas/O’Connor) recorded 43 assists marking the nineteenth time this season she has tallied 40 or more in a match.

Defensively, freshman Cameron Griffin (Lake Forest, Ill.) picked up 17 digs and sophomore Cara Fatigati (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) totaled nine for the Tartans.

The Lions were led by senior outside hitter Sara Kylor, as she had nine kills.  Senior setter Lisa Byars tallied 23 assists and sophomore middle hitter Lauren Carter had seven totaled blocks including three solo.

The Tartans will host the Final Four of the ECAC South Championships Saturday and Sunday, November 10-11.  The Tartans will face seventh seeded New York University at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.  NYU was upset the second seed New Jersey City University 3-1 (30-20, 29-30, 30-22, 30-19).  The other semifinal match will feature top seeded Johns Hopkins University against Washington & Jefferson College.  The tilt is set to start at 1:00 p.m. Saturday.  The winners of the two semifinal matches will play for the championship on Sunday at noon.