Volleyball moves streak to 14 wins, clinch PSAC berth

The Edinboro women’s volleyball team secured its first PSAC playoff spot since 2011 this past weekend. Additionally, the ladies have now won 14 straight matches, two wins away from tying the 2011 streak of 16 consecutive victories.

The Scots have yet to suffer a loss against a PSAC West opponent, making their overall record now 27-2 and 16-1 in the conference.

“On and off the court, our whole team was in it together and that’s what got us our wins this weekend,” Latoya Hutchinson said.

On Friday night at Indiana (Pa.), Edinboro defeated the Crimson Hawks 3-1, with scores of 25-22, 24-26, 25-23 and 25-22.

“Well, what a weekend,” head coach Missy Soboleski started out with. “[We] started a little shaky against IUP. We had great ball control in certain areas, but had way too many hitting errors. However, I will take aggressive errors. We were taking some big swings and just missing a little long. It was good to see our team be able to overcome some adversity and push forward for the win.”

Sophomore Challen Litwiler led the attack with 11 kills, while Hutchinson and Victoria Severo added nine each. Sydney Trathen contributed seven kills and a team-high 31 assists for the night.

Defensively, Marah Maycock paced the Scots with 25 digs. Litwiler had 24 digs and Taylor Palowski had 18, each totaling career-high digs in the match.

Saturday, the ladies traveled to Clarion and again won by a 3-1 decision, with scores of 25- 23, 25-21, 21-25 and 25-21.

Sobolseki was proud of the way her athletes played Saturday.

“To turn around and play a very physical team in Clarion and play smooth and just control the ball the way we did, was just great to see,” she said. “They are a big team, with big blockers and we were taking big, aggressive swings.”

Hutchinson led the offense with a team-high 13 kills in the match. Litwiler totaled 12 kills, while Severo contributed 10. Trathen had 43 assists for the Scots, while totaling 8 kills with a .400 hitting percentage.

“Latoya, Challen and Vic had great nights at the net,” Soboleski commented. “Marah, Challen, Megan, Syd and Taylor had great nights defensively for us. [They] really did a nice job keeping the ball alive.”

Maycock, again, led the squad defensively with 21 digs. Litwiler added 19 of her own and Palowski beat her career- high from the previous day, with 19 digs in the match.

“We had a great weekend with two big road wins,” Maycock said. “I think our team chemistry and energy is what won us the Clarion match. It feels awesome to make PSAC playoffs as well.”

Trathen had a career-high with two block solos and five block assists.