Volleyball Enters Playoffs as No. 2 Seed

On Saturday, the Plymouth State Women’s Volleyball team solidified their place as the second seeded team for the Little East Conference tournament with wins at home over conference foe UMass Dartmouth and non-conference opponent Salem State. These victories added to the Panthers’ recent LEC victories on the road against rival Keene State on October 19th and Rhode Island College on October 22nd. With a seven game winning streak under their belt, Plymouth has a bye in the first round of LEC tournament play and hosts the semifinal round on Thursday, November 3rd.

The matches against UMD and Salem concluded PSU’s regular season play. It was Breast Cancer Awareness Day and Senior Day in Foley Gymnasium, as the Panthers used their last appearance at home to play for a cause and honor their six seniors: Dani Tabor (Seattle, WA), Brianna Wojtas (Salem, NH), Mikki Taffe (Sandown, NH), Kayla Wyland (Melrose, MA), Rachel Morrissey (Salem, NH), and Hannah Hyatt (Andover, Conn). PSU pulled off 3-0 sweeps of both teams, making the day just a little bit sweeter.

In the first game against UMD, junior Claire Sporer (Medford, Ore) and Wojtas led the Panthers’ offense, racking up 12 kills and 11 kills, respectively. Tabor followed close behind with nine kills. Sophomore Megan Bailey (Canterbury, NH) recorded 33 assists to help guide PSU to the win. Defensively, junior libero Brenna Peruch led with ten digs, while Morrissey, Hyatt, and Sporer posted six digs each. This collaborative effort allowed Plymouth to sail past UMass with a final score of 3-0 (25-11, 25-22, 25-14).

Against Salem State, the PSU offense executed a cooperative at- tack with Tabor leading with seven kills, sophomore Jill Tiner (Salem, NH) posting five kills, and several Panthers contributing three or four kills apiece. Additionally, Plymouth connected with 13 service aces in the match. Taffe and Morrissey claimed three each to set the tone. Bailey had 18 assists in the first two sets of play before freshman Shannon Howland (Delmar, NY) took over in the third set, posting five assists. Sporer and Hyatt controlled the defense, contributing six digs each. The Panthers completed their double sweep on the day with a 3-0 win (25-11, 25-14, 25-17) over Salem.

With the victories, Plymouth charges into tournament play with a seven-match winning streak and a first-round bye. The Panthers returned to action on Thursday, November 3rd at 7:00pm to host Western Connecticut the semifinal round of the LEC tournament. Score was unavailable for press time.