Kutztown-Volleyball

Volleyball
2007 NCAA Division II Atlantic Regionals
at California University of Pennsylvania - Hamer Hall
November 15-17, 2007

Thursday, Nov. 15
12 p.m. - No. 3 Edinboro (26-10) vs. No. 6 Slippery Rock (22-14)
2:30 p.m. - No. 2 Clarion (27-5) vs. No. 7 Lees-McRae (26-11)
5 p.m. - No. 4 (30-11) Shippensburg vs. No. 5 Kutztown (27-9)
7:30 p.m. - No. 1 California (32-3) vs. No. 8 Fayetteville State (26-11)

Friday, Nov. 16
5 p.m. - Regional semifinal (Edinboro/Slippery Rock vs. Clarion/Lees-McRae)
7:30 p.m. - Regional semifinal (Shippensburg/Kutztown vs. California/Fayetteville State)

Saturday, Nov. 17
7 p.m. - Regional final

CALIFORNIA, Pa. — After posting a school record 27 wins this season, the Kutztown University women’s volleyball team qualified for its second NCAA Division II Atlantic Regionals and will meet Shippensburg Thursday at Hamer Hall in California, Pa.

Shippensburg (30-11), the fourth seed, swept the fifth-seeded Golden Bears (27-9) during the regular season en route to winning the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division regular season title. California, which won the PSAC Championship Saturday, is the No. 1 seed.

California (32-3) will meet eighth-seeded Fayetteville State (26-11). Edinboro (26-10), the third seed which defeated KU in the PSAC quarterfinals 3-2, will face sixth-seeded Slippery Rock (22-14), while second-seeded Clarion (27-5) will take on the seventh seed, Lees-McRae (26-11).

KU and Shippensburg will play at 5 p.m. Thursday, and the winner will advance to the semifinals to face the California/Fayetteville State winner on Friday.

KU is led by seniors Nicole Biuso (sr. Centereach, N.Y./Ward Melville) and Erin Waters (sr. Waymart/Western Wayne). Biuso is the school’s all-time leader in digs with 2,226 in her four years as a Golden Bear. She has a single-season record 828 this season. Waters has 389 kills and 126 blocks.

Austin Kinney (jr. Landisville/Hempfield) has 1,119 assists and 327 digs this season.

Lindsay Confer (fr. Wingate/Bald Eagle Area) has a team-high 398 kills on the season. Jamie Celia (fr. Douglassville/Daniel Boone) has backed up Kinney at setter during the season and recorded 309 assists and 370 digs. She also leads the Golden Bears in service aces with 56.

Katie Miller (so. Elizabethtown/Elizabethtown), Kaitlyn Cunliffe (fr. Levittown/Pennsbury) and Kelsey Nester (fr. Catasauqua/ Catasauqua) all have more than 200 kills. Nester leads the team in blocks with 129.

Shippensburg has four players with more than 300 kills — Kali Antonik (426), Brittany Roche
(422), Colleen Toomey (394) and Cindel Young (343). Kelsi Hoffman leads the team in digs with 484. Toomey follows with 337. Maureen DuVall has 1,356 assists.

At the Atlantic Regionals last season, KU finished 1-1 picking up a 3-0 win over Clarion in the first round before falling 3-1 to Lock Haven.

THU 11.15
at NCAA Division II Atlantic Regionals
First Round - at California, PA

CALIFORNIA, Pa. - Fifth-seeded Kutztown won a thrilling 3-2 decision over fourth seed Shippensburg in the first round of the NCAA Division II Atlantic Volleyball Regional Thursday evening.

Erin Waters led KU (28-9) with 20 kills and three blocks. Lindsay Confer added 18 kills and Kelsey Nester had 15 kills and six blocks. Katie Miller notched 12 kills.

Nicole Biuso and Jamie Celia had 21 digs apiece, while Kaitlyn Cunliffe and Austin Kinney recorded 20 digs each. Kinney dished out 65 assists and Cunliffe notched five aces.

Brittany Roche led all players with 33 kills for Shippensburg, whose season ends with a 30-12 record. Colleen Toomey ahd 20 kills an Kelsi Hoffman had 25 digs.

The teams traded the first four games, with Shippensburg winnings games one and three, 30-23 and 30-25; and KU winning games two and four, 34-32 and 30-25.

KU's win in game two came after the Golden Bears survived two game points at 30-29 and 31-30. Both times Waters killed the ball to even the score. Nester had the eventual game-two game winner on a kill.

In the decisive game five, Shippensburg took a 13-11 lead on a kill by Kali Antolik. Confer's kill and a Ship error tied the score at 13.

Confer had another kill to give KU a match point, but SU's Toomey had a kill to make it 14 all. An error by Shippensburg gave KU another match point, but a Bear error knotted the score again.

Nester had a kill off an Kinney set for KU's third match point. This time, KU converted, as Shippensburg's Brittany Roche hit an attack out of bounds, and KU won 17-15.

Kutztown avenges a pair of regular-season losses to Shippensburg. The Raiders won the first two meetings 3-0 and 3-1 earlier this season. The losses were the only two in the Division for KU this season, whose string of two-straight PSAC East regular-season titles was snapped by the Raiders.

Kutztown is now 2-1 all-time in NCAA playoff matches and advances to the Regional semifinal round for the second-straight season.

KU will face the Vulcans of California (PA), who defeated No. 8 seed Fayetteville State, 3-0. That match begins at 7:30 PM Friday.

FRI 11.16
at NCAA Division II Atlantic Regionals
Second Round - at California, PA

CALIFORNIA, PA – Top seeded California University of Pennsylvania defeated Kutztown, 3-0, in the second round of the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region at Hamer Hall Friday night.

Cal advances to face Edinboro in the regional final. The third seeded Scots upset No. 2 seed Clarion, 3-1, in the other semifinal.

Amber Santavy had 14 kills, 12 digs and five blocks for California. Joanna Nist had 13 kills and 10 digs, while Tamara Hinic had 10 kills. Renata da Silva had 43 assists.

For Kutztown, Erin Waters had six kills and Kelsey Nester and Kaitlyn Cunliffe had five each. Austin Kinney had 19 assists and 17 digs, while Nicole Biuso had 18 digs.

Kutztown’s school-record season comes to a close with a 28-10 record. Biuso finished her career as KU's career leader in digs (2,265) and aces (160), while setting the single-season digs mark this year (867). Kinney finished her junior year as KU's career assists leader (3,490).