Box Score

Marissa Harrison (Shavertown, Pa./Lake-Lehman) picked up 21 of the team's 55 kills to lead Wilkes to a 3-1 (25-23, 18-25, 25-22, 25-21) win over King's in the opening round of the Freedom Conference Championship. They will now take on No. 1 seeded Eastern with the winner advancing to the championship match. 

           
Harrison picked up her eighth double-double of the season and second in a row with 10 digs and led all players with nine service aces. Her 21 kills was just one off her season high of 22 which she set against King's earlier this season. Three Lady Colonels finished with double-digit kills with Julie Page (New Milford, Pa./Blue Ridge) and Katherine Harrington (LaFayette, N.Y./LaFayette Central) pitching in with 13 and 10 respectively.  

           
In the first game, Wilkes jumped out to a 5-0 lead, taking advantage of three King's errors to start the match. The Monarchs would eventually tie the match at 14 on a Shannon Ellis service ace before Tanya Rabenold gave King's its first lead of the game with one of her five kills in the match. The Monarchs would hold the lead until a service error by King's Danielle Belfani broke a 23-23 tie and gave Wilkes the lead for good. Kaitlyn McGurk (Swarthmore, Pa./Ridley) wrapped up the game with one of her two service aces to give the Lady Colonels a 1-0 lead. 

           
King's dominated the second game offensively, racking up eight kills with just two errors in the frame. Kat Clerici and Kaitlyn Malshefski each had three kills in the game without committing an error. A kill by Page tied the game at one before the Monarchs scored four-straight points to take a 5-1 lead. Wilkes would eventually tie the match at 10 thanks to a 7-3 run, but a service error by the Lady Colonels gave King's the lead for good. Wilkes finished with 12 service errors in the game, but came away with a season-high 16 service aces in the win. In the last two matches, Wilkes has tallied 30 aces, 14 of which came against Alvernia in the final regular season match of the season. 

           
Like game one, the two teams exchanged points in the third frame, playing through nine ties and five lead changes. Harrison's first kill of the game gave Wilkes a 6-5 lead which it would keep until Clerici would tie the match at 16 with a kill down the line. She would finish with eight kills without an error in the contest.

           
The game would be tied once again at 18, 20 and 22 points each before Page gave the Lady Colonels a 23-22 advantage they would not relinquish with a cross-court kill. “We watched film on them all week and we had a good idea of where we wanted to hit the ball,” head coach Alicia Orlowski said. “They made some adjustments, but we stuck to our game plan and it worked.” 

           
Wilkes offense came alive in the fourth and deciding match, picking up 19 kills with just two errors, nine of which came from Harrison. The game was close early on, but three-straight service aces by Harrison gave Wilkes a 10-7 advantage. 

           
The Monarchs were able to close within three (14-17) on a kill by Katie Doss, but were unable to come any closer as Harrison closed out the match with a kill. “I was really happy with our defensive effort today. We have been working on that all week and it really showed and I am proud of them,” Orlowski said. 

           
Wilkes will now travel to St. David's to face Eastern in the Freedom Conference semifinal game at 7 p.m. Wednesday.