Wilkes Women's Volleyball Wins Five-Set Thriller over Gwynedd Mercy
WILKES-BARRE – The "Cardiac Colonels" of the Wilkes Women's Volleyball team won their fourth five-set game of the year Wednesday night, defeating the Gwynedd Mercy Griffins 3-2 at the Marts Center.
Wilkes improves to 10-5 on the year with the win, remaining a perfect 5-0 at home, while Gwynedd Mercy falls to 2-10.
The Colonels took the first set of the evening, pulling away from the visitors after a four-point run gave Wilkes an 11-6 lead, helped on by two aces from
Charlize Leukus (York haven, PA/Red Land). Wilkes went on another large run late in the set, as three
Mia Leon (Ponce, PR/Caribbean) service aces spurred on a 6-0 run that gave the Colonels take a 22-12 lead. A kill by
Abby Dornblaser (Gilbertsville, PA/Boyertown) and another ace by Leukus saw off the set, as Wilkes won 25-14.
After trailing 24-17 in the second set, Wilkes stormed back with a six-point run to close the gap to one point, but the visitors took the second set 25-23 with a final kill. Wilkes responded in the third with a massive 9-0 run to take a 24-11 lead finished off by a
Leah Nagle (Orefield, PA/Northwestern Lehigh) kill to win 25-14.
Much like the second set, the Colonels fought from behind down 23-13 to cut the lead to 23-19, but the Griffins forced a fifth set with a 25-20 win.
A back-and-forth fifth saw the visitors ahead 12-10, but a 4-0 run with kills from Dornblaser and Leon to put the Colonels ahead 14-10. A final attack error by Gwynedd Mercy put them away for good, as Wilkes took the final set 15-10.
Leon led the Colonels with 25 kills on the evening, while
Maddy Durfee (Attica, NY/Attica) served up 24 assists followed by
Rachael Anderson (Canmore, AB/West Island College) with 19. Defensively,
Annalyse Santowasso (Middlesex, NJ/Rutgers Prep),
Kendra Kalp (Somerset, PA/Rockwood), and Leon all shared a team-high 10 digs.
Ava Caton led the Griffins with nine kills, while Macie Ferla had a team-high 18 assists. P.J. Mendoza led all players with 17 digs.
Wilkes now gets set to begin Landmark Conference play, as they travel to face the University of Scranton on Friday, October 2 at 6:00 p.m.
