Annville, PA – It’s a trend that head coach Julie Brubaker can embrace, albeit with reservation.
In Friday evening’s opening round of the Flying Dutchmen, the Crimson Eagles went down early in each of their two matches on the night. And, in both contests, through an inspiring demonstration of grit and determination, the Crimson Eagles not only clawed their way back into each match, but eventually triumphed in both.
The dual-wins mark the second and third times this season the Crimson Eagles have completed what may seem to be miraculous comebacks, the other coming in the form of an extended five set come-from-behind victory against Mount Aloysius College just last weekend.
And although this Friday’s drama might have been enough to force Brubaker to grapple for an extra bottle of antacids, PBU’s leader was nevertheless more than pleased with her team’s efforts in their opening night at Lebanon Valley.
“The two teams we played tonight (York College and Penn State Altoona) are solid all- around,” she noted. “I felt like we came out a little intimated which might have been part of the cause for our slow starts. But once we realized we could compete with both of these teams, we began to play extremely good volleyball.”
Opening play against York in the late afternoon, the Crimson Eagles found themselves getting pounded early. In fact, the Spartans put on a 25-10 drubbing in game one and followed up with a two point victory in set two to go up two games to none.
In jeopardy of getting swept in their opening contest, Coach Brubaker’s squad pulled off a “can-you-believe-we-just-did-that” type of game in the form of a 26-24 thriller. Feeling a jolt of confidence following the momentum-shifting triumph, PBU rallied together in the final two sets to pull off the upset by stealing games four and five by counts of 25-18 and 15-10, respectively.
Junior Betsy Ranck dished out 36 helpers in the match while chipping in six digs, four kills, and a game-high four aces. Classmate Kay Lynn Zeiset finished with a career high 20 digs and a solo ace, and second-year outside hitter Carly Plank added 18 kills while throwing down a career high .342 hitting percentage throughout play.
Facing Penn State Altoona in match two of the night, the same old story struck again for PBU. After taking a 25-22 win in set one, the Crimson Eagles dropped back-to-back games by scores of 25-18 and 25-20 to fall into a 2-1 hole. With their backs to the wall, Coach Brubaker’s squad once again responded with urgent fervor, pulling out 25-22 and 15-6 victories in sets four and five.
Senior Becky Williams led the way with 20 digs, 13 kills, and three total blocks. Plank once again finished with double-digit kills with 14, and Ranck filled a complete stat sheet with 36 assists, eight digs, and three aces.
But perhaps the highlight of the match against the Lions’ came from sophomore Khloe Keener. Primarily filling in for senior captain Katy Kutzner who was unable to compete Friday, Keener proved she was more than an adequate replacement. The native of Lititz, PA confidently stepped up and rattled off six straight service points – including three aces – to finish off Altoona in the fifth and final set. Oh, and she also pumped out a career high 12 digs in the match as well.
“Khloe did a great job stepping in tonight,” Brubaker praised. “She played with a lot of confidence and really was one of the key reasons for our comeback and win against Penn State Altoona.”
“Being such a young team, I was impressed how all of our girls stuck with it, especially after being down. We showed a lot of mental toughness tonight which I’m proud of.”
PBU improves to 6-4 overall on the year with the combo of wins.
The volleyball team will compete in two final matches Saturday before returning to Langhorne. The Crimson Eagles will take on host Lebanon Valley College at 11:00 am and will square off with Ursinus College later in the day at 1:00 pm.
