Lemont Furnace, PA – Fayette volleyball would travel down to Virginia Beach, Virginia this past weekend to participate in the 2017 USCAA National Volleyball Championship. They would receive a berth to this championship after losing the PSUAC Championship to Penn State Brandywine, who would advance to the USCAA National Championship along with Fayette. Penn State Fayette would receive the 10th seed of the tournament and finish the regular season with a record of 23-7. Fayette would compete in pool play on Thursday, November 9th and Friday, November 10th to have a chance to advance into the championship playoff bracket.
On Thursday, November 9th, Penn State Fayette would play #1 Florida College at 9:30 AM in the first game of the tournament. Fayette was defeated by Florida College, 2-0. The sets went 25-6 and 25-6 for Florida College. Morgan Pytlak, Kayla Barbabella, Siteri Tale and Hannah Lipniskis would each tally a kill. Lipniskis and Tale recorded two digs as well. Machaela Hall tallied 2 assists and 5 digs. At 12:30 PM, the Roaring Lions would take on Cincinnati Clermont in the final game on Thursday. Fayette would fall against Cincinnati Clermont, 2-0. The sets went 25-16 and 25-23 for Cincinnati Clermont. Machaela Hall tallied 15 assists and 5 digs. Kayla Barbabella recorded 6 digs and Chanel Porter had 9 digs. Morgan Pytlak and Khani Young had 2 kills apiece for the Roaring Lions. Hannah Lipniskis tallied 4 kills during the match. Siteri Tale finished the game with 10 kills, 2 assists, 4 digs and 1 block.
On Friday, November 10th, the Roaring Lions would be back in action with another two games for a chance to make it to the championship bracket. The first game would take place at 9:30 AM and they would play Johnson & Wales (NC). Fayette would be defeated by Johnson & Wales, 2-0. The sets went 25-20 and 25-20 in favor of Johnson & Wales. Machaela Hall had a big game of assists with 18 with 8 digs as well. Khani Young finished the game with 3 kills. Morgan Pytlak would have 6 kills, 4 digs and 1 block. Siteri Tale recorded 8 kills, 5 digs and 1 block for the Roaring Lions. Hannah Lipnisks had 3 kills and 3 digs. Chanel Porter finished the game with 11 digs for Fayette. The final game of the tournament for Fayette would take place at 12:30 PM against St. Mary-of-the-Woods. Fayette lost the match, 2-0. The sets would be 25-14 and 25-6 for St. Mary-of-the-Woods. Hall had 5 assists and 4 digs. Young, Lipniskis and Pytlak each had a kill for Fayette. Tale would record 3 kills and 3 digs. Alex Muccioli and Chanel Porter both recorded 4 digs along with Barbabella and Pytlak.
It was not the result Fayette wanted, but the 2017 Penn State Fayette volleyball team had a great season overall with many key points to highlight. To begin, Penn State Fayette were undefeated at the Community Center Gym this season. Fayette volleyball would have Siteri Tale, Machaela Hall and Alex Muccioli receive the honor of Penn State Fayette's "Athlete of the Week". Also, Tale would receive an award from the USCAA for becoming a 2nd-team All American and Fayette volleyball reached the PSUAC Championship and USCAA National Championship under the new leadership from Head Coach, Samantha Swetz and Assistant Coach, Janelle Cooper. Congratulations to the 2017 Penn State Fayette volleyball team on a great season!
