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.
“Syd did a great job running the offense and also had a big night at the net with some big blocks, as well as getting kills for us,” Soboleski added.
The Fighting Scots returned to McComb Fieldhouse on Nov. 3 for their senior night against Slippery Rock, after deadline for this issue. The Scots honored Maria Concheck, Katie Felix, Marah Maycock and Breanna Gardner.
Boro heads to Erie this weekend, facing Mercyhurst on Friday night and Gannon on Saturday afternoon.
“The rest of the games this season will not be easy, but I have no doubt we can do it. We take it one game at a time, but we also want to win the championships,” Litwiler concluded.
Becca Martin is a Copy Editor for The Spectator.
By Sam Bohen
Staff writer Sam Bohen details his must-watch sports action for your winter break. If you don't care that the Steelers are 11-1, there's still plenty more to check out. |
By Sam Bohen
The new Manager of Annual Giving at Edinboro discusses his history on campus, including his time on the gridiron. |
The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference was the top fundraising Division II conference for Make-a-Wish, for the sixth year in a row, with a total of $35,294. |
By Sam Bohen
We had seen athletes speak out on social media. We had seen athletes speak out at protests. We had seen athletes take a knee in protest. But we had never seen athletes flat-out refuse to play in protest. |
By Jacob Brooks
These days, Chakot is the “steward” of the 1970 Lambert Bowl Championship Team Scholarship. Each year, one Edinboro football player is selected by their head coach to receive the scholarship. |
Her storied career includes the Edinboro career record for points, single game record for points, conference player of the year honors, and a second-team All-American honor. She stands at 12th all time in PSAC scoring (2,019). |