Volleyball Headed To Rec Hall For PSUAC Tournament

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Top-seeded Penn State Brandywine opens the PSUAC Volleyball Tournament Saturday afternoon with a semifinal matchup against No. 4 Penn State Beaver in State College at Penn State's Rec Hall at 1:00 pm.

The Lions (19-3 overall), under the direction of Head Coach Melissa Algeo, will be the favorite to win the first PSUAC crown in program history after rolling through conference play unbeaten (16-0). Not only did Brandywine run through its league slate without a loss, it did not drop a set in any of those 16 matches.

The most recent of Brandywine's 16 PSUAC victories came over Beaver on Sunday during the Lions' regular-season finale. Halee Kusner (Aston, Pa./Sun Valley) led all players with 10 kills, while Nikki Poissant (Aston, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) added eight kills and 12 digs.

Emily Battista (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown) and Kim Russo (West Chester, Pa./West Chester East) both tallied 10 digs. During the match, Russo reached the 1,000-dig mark for her career and earlier in the day, Miranda Biondi (Newtown Square, Pa./Marple Newtown) became the first player from Brandywine to record 2,000 career assists in a 3-0 win against Penn State Greater Allegheny.

Biondi leads the conference in assists per set (7.65) and is second in aces (70), while Russo tops the team with 184 digs. Poissant and Kusner have combined for 276 kills, while Nicole Costa (Lansdowne, Pa./Upper Darby) has produced 110 kills and a team-best 43 blocks.

Brandywine will be looking to reach the PSUAC Championship match for the third consecutive year. The Lions were defeated in four sets by Penn State Fayette last season after getting swept by Fayette, which has won the last seven titles, in 2013. Eight of the nine players from Brandywine who saw action in the 2014 title match are back on this year's squad.

Fayette, which Brandywine defeated in three sets on Oct. 17, is the tournament's No. 2 seed and will face No. 3 Penn State Mont Alto in Saturday's second semifinal. Brandywine swept a pair of matches from Mont Alto during the regular season and used a dramatic, fifth-set rally, scoring the final nine points, to knock of Mont Alto in last year's semifinal round.

The championship match will be held Sunday at noon in Rec Hall with the winner earning the PSUAC's automatic bid to the USCAA Tournament.