DOYLESTOWN, Pa. – The Delaware Valley women's volleyball team hosted its own tri-match to start the season with Penn State York and Penn College and came away with a split. The Aggies dropped the contest to Penn State York, 3-0, before bouncing back in a 3-0 win over Penn College.
 
The victory against Penn College marks the first of the season for the Aggies and their first on their home court for 2023.
 
MATCH ONE VS. PENN STATE YORK (3-1 LOSS)
 
The teams traded points thorough the beginning of the first set before the Aggies pulled ahead, 8-5, off two Grace Kane kills and a Hannah Brennan service ace. Delaware Valley managed to maintain at least a two-point lead until a 4-0 run by the Nittany Lions to give the visitors a 14-12 advantage. The back-and-forth effort continued with neither team taking more than a two-score advantage over the other.
 
Trailing 24-22, the Aggies put together a 3-0 spurt with a kill from Emma Helverson followed by back-to-back kills from Kane to make it a 25-24 game. Penn State had the final say with a 2-0 spurt to end the set, 30-28.
 
The Nittany Lions took control early in set two jumping out to a seven-point lead, 10-3. Delaware Valley struggled to get its offense moving but eventually closed the gap to as little as three with a Gretta Schneider kill paired with a Kane service ace, 18-15. Penn State finished the set with four straight to take the 25-19 win.
 
Once again PSU put together an early 6-0 run to take the 9-3 lead to start the third set, but this time the Aggies were quick to answer with a 5-0 run of its own to close the deficit to a single point, 10-9. Delaware Valley went on to tie the score two more times putting together another 5-0 run to make it a 23-23 game, but Penn State ended the set with a 2-0 run to take the win,
 24-25.
 
Kane's 14 kills led Delaware Valley, while Schneider had seven and Victoria Tucker secured six. Kane also led the Aggies with three service aces.
 
MATCH TWO VS. PENN COLLEGE (3-0 WIN)
 
Delaware Valley started off quick taking an early 5-point lead over the Wildcats, 9-3. The Wildcats worked to close the gap but the Aggies maintained at least a four-point lead over Penn College. With Delaware Valley leading 21-15, the team mounted a 4-0 run to end the first set, 25-15.
 
The second set saw the Wildcats get the first two points of the game putting the Aggies in chase. Delaware Valley tied the score six more times before a 2-0 run finally put the team in a 13-11 lead over Penn College. The Wildcats were quick to respond with a 7-0 spurt to regain a four-point lead, 17-13. The rest of the contest swung in the Aggies favor with an 9-2 run giving the team a four-point cushion, 24-20. The Wildcats ended it with the service error to hand Delaware Valley the 25-21 set.
 
The third set started similar to the rest with the teams trading points before Delaware Valley put together a couple of mini runs to take a 13-7 lead over the Wildcats. Penn College put up four-straight points to close the gap to 13-11, but the Aggies would only allow another two points before four-straight kills started a 8-0 scoring run that also saw back-to-back Samantha Wilton service aces to end the set, 25-13.
 
Once again, Kane led the Aggies in kills with 11 while Schneider and Tucker totaled six apiece. Wilton led the Aggies in service aces with five, a career-high for the first-year.
 
Delaware Valley will return to action on the road on Wednesday, Sep. 6 against Keystone College at 7 p.m.