Women's Volleyball
2009 Game Preview

last updated 09/24/2009 03:10 PM

Kutztown begins PSAC East play this weekend

KUTZTOWN, PA (September 24, 2009) – The Kutztown University volleyball team concludes its five-match road trip with visits to Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division members East Stroudsburg and Lock Haven this weekend. Despite dropping a trio of matches in Erie last weekend, the Golden Bears (6-4 overall) battled hard and showed flashes of brilliance.

“I thought we competed hard,” Kutztown volleyball coach John Gump said. “Our defense was pretty solid and our offense worked well at times, although I’d like to see us be a bit more consistent. We have a talented group that plays well together.”

The Golden Bears are 0-3 in PSAC matches. Last week’s crossover matches against Mercyhurst, Edinboro and Gannon counted toward the overall conference record. The Golden Bears will look to put everything together when they visit East Stroudsburg (7-8 overall, 0-4 PSAC) on Friday night and reigning Eastern Division champion Lock Haven (10-4, 2-2) on Saturday night. Both matches begin at 7 p.m.

In an odd scheduling quirk, this will be Kutztown’s last away contest until Monday October 26. The Golden Bears start an 11-match home stand beginning Monday September 28 with a contest against Alvernia College at neutral site Pine Grove Middle School. Kutztown is technically the home team. KU’s next away game will be against Bowie State University.

Gump may not have enjoyed the overall match results but his team did provide plenty of positives, which should help Kutztown as it moves into the second month of the season. Over the weekend, junior Lindsay Confer (Wingate/Bald Eagle) led the Golden Bears with 16 kills. She also contributed 14 digs. Senior Katie Miller (Elizabethtown/Elizabethtown) finished with 12 kills and seven blocks. Sophomore Katie Lutz (Greencastle/Greencastle-Atrim) and freshman Brianna Risch (Coatesville/Coatesville) led the Golden Bears with eight blocks each.

“Confer had a really good match on offense vs. Mercyhurst,” Gump said. “Lutz blocked well vs. Edinboro and was good on offense vs. Gannon; Jamie Celia and Lindsey Smith did a nice job on defense throughout the weekend; Risch had a nice match against Edinboro.”

Celia leads the PSAC in service aces per game (1.04) and is ninth in digs per game (4.00). Smith is fourth in the conference in service aces per game (0.73). Meanwhile, Lutz and Snell are tied for fourth in the PSAC in blocks per game (1.10).

Now, Gump and the Golden Bears will look to build from last week into a stronger unit that will be primed for a deep run through the conference playoffs in November. The potential is there to enjoy a memorable November.

 “We need to be more consistent with our execution on offense and we need to avoid giving up runs of points,” Gump said. “There were too many times this past weekend when we played somebody tough throughout the first half or more of a set only to give up a run of points late and then have to try to come back when the set is short. Some areas for improvement were indentified and that will give us direction as we move into the next phase of our season.

--KU--