Volleyball Begins Title Defense Wednesday In PSUAC Quarterfinals

MEDIA, Pa. -- Penn State Brandywine begins the defense of its Penn State University Athletic Conference volleyball title on Wednesday with a quarterfinal matchup on its home floor against Penn State Lehigh Valley beginning at 7:00 PM.

The format for this year's PSUAC Tournament has been altered slighty following the conference's creation of east and west divisions. The top four teams from each division reached the postseason and all eight squads will play quarterfinal matches on Wednesday night. The winners of the four quarterfinal games will head to Rec Hall for the semifinals on Monday. As the top seed from the East Division, Brandywine would face the lowest remaining seed from the West Division if the Lions reach the semifinal round.

Brandywine is the top-seeded team from the PSUAC East Division after rolling through its conference schedule with a perfect 12-0 record. The Lions were seeded first when they previously won championships in 2017 and 2015. Brandywine won all 12 of its conference matches in straight sets during the regular season.

Two of Brandywine's PSUAC triumphs came against Penn State Lehigh Valley, including a 3-0 win last Wednesday on Senior Night. Nicolette Napoleon paced the team with 19 kills and 12 aces against Lehigh Valley this fall. The Lions are 8-0 against Lehigh Valley since its inaugural season in 2014.

Brandywine went undefeated in the PSUAC for the second-straight year and has now won its last 30 regular-season conference matches. The Lions did drop three-of-four games to western teams during the PSUAC crossover, but those matches were not counted toward teams' conference marks.

A victory Wednesday night would send Brandywine to the PSUAC semifinals for the seventh-straight year. Only Fayette has a longer active streak among PSUAC volleyball teams. Fayette is the top seed from the west and will face No. 4 Mont Alto in its quarterfinal game.

Other quarterfinals include East No. 2 Hazleton hosting East No. 3 Schuylkill and West No. 2 DuBois playing host to West No. 3 Beaver.

Following Monday's semifinal round, the championship will be played Tuesday evening at 6:00 PM inside Rec Hall.