Box Score
PHILADELPHIA, PA - The women's volleyball team proved Thursday night there's a first time for everything.
Playing a team they have yet to overcome in their tenured program history, the Crimson Eagles triumphed over Division II Philadelphia University in five taxing sets, eventually taking the Rams by scores of 19-25, 25-19, 25-19, 17-25, 15-10.
It marks somewhat of a monumental win for the squad, something head coach Julie Brubaker has been striving to achieve for years.
“In my first few years with PBU we were swept every time we played Philadelphia - it was almost a given,” Brubaker said. “But last season we managed to extend them to four sets for the first time ever, which was encouraging. And tonight we were able to take them to five sets, which was definitely to our advantage.”
“I think it’s neat to see how the program here has evolved over the years. This was a good win for us tonight against a team that we have traditionally struggled against in the past.”
Helping the team achieve the somewhat historic feat were several impressive individual performances.
Take, for instance, senior Becky Williams leading the Crimson Eagles to a 12-0 start while serving that eventually gave PBU a 25-19 win in the oh-so-crucial third set. Williams also posted her fifth double-double of the season in the triumph, finishing the evening with 17 kills and 12 digs. Or how about junior Kay Lynn Zeiset’s career-high 23 digs and three aces on the night, a performance worthy enough to garner praise from Philadelphia head coach Mark Magarity following the match.
But perhaps the most important factor and even more impressive than the two aforementioned individual feats is the fact that PBU had just one receiving error as a team throughout the entire evening.
“I thought we played good defense, we passed well…we did everything we needed to do to beat a very good team tonight,” Brubaker said. “It’s amazing that we went through five sets with just one receiving error – that just doesn’t happen.”
But, believe it or not, it did happen Thursday night, and so did a big-time win against a team that has typically “had PBU’s number” in the past.
The Crimson Eagles’ win over Philadelphia provides one more fact worth mentioning: currently on a three game win streak, PBU is currently in the midst of their longest winning streak of the season.
With Brubaker’s first victory against the Rams intact, the fifth-year head coach and her squad will return to Langhorne for their first home contest in two weeks this Saturday. The Crimson Eagles will take on The College of Notre Dame at 3:00 pm.
