Monday, November 3, 2003

MORAVIAN WOMEN’S VOLLEYABLL TEAM TRAVELS TO LEBANON VALLEY FOR COMMONWEALTH CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

BETHLEHEM, PA --- The Moravian College women’s volleyball team will be the third seed in the 2003 Commonwealth Conference Championship Tournament that begins on Wednesday, November 5th, and the Greyhounds, who are making their eighth consecutive trip to the postseason, will travel to second seeded Lebanon Valley College for a 7:00 p.m. semifinal match on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s other semifinal will have top seeded Juniata College hosting fourth seed Susquehanna University at 7:00 p.m. The winning teams will meet at the highest remaining seed on Saturday, November 8th for the Commonwealth Conference Championship. The winner of Saturday’s contest will receive the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championships that begin on Thursday, November 13th.

Moravian, under the direction of 11th-year head coach Shelley Bauder, has a 25-8 record this season with a 4-3 slate in the Commonwealth Conference. The Greyhounds lost to Lebanon Valley, 3-1, in their regular season match-up. The NCAA ranked the Greyhounds eighth in the Mid-Atlantic Regional last week while the Flying Dutchmen were in seventh place. Moravian has played in the Commonwealth Conference Championship match against Juniata in each of the last seven seasons. The Greyhounds have also reached the NCAA Tournament three times and been the top seed in the Eastern College Athletic Conference South Championships the last two years.

Senior outside hitter Kim Zipf (Wyomissing, PA/Holy Name HS), who has been limited to action in the back row for nearly a month an injury, has 224 kills this season, and Zipf has contributed 296 digs, 22 service aces, 17 blocks, 22 assists, and a .274 hitting percenatge. Zipf broke Amy Sandt's career record for kills this season and now has 1,499 career kills. Zipf needs just 90 more digs to break Sandt's career mark of 1,634. Sophomore middle hitter Lindsay Siracusa (Yardley, PA/Pennsbury HS) leads the Greyhounds with 365 kills while leading the squad with 113 blocks. Siracusa, who is this week’s Commonwealth Conference Player of the Week, has a .279 hitting percentage to go along with 38 service aces and 116 digs.

Senior setter Amy Lawrence (Gettysburg, PA/Delone Catholic HS), who has missed the last six matches with an injury and will miss the remainder of the year, has a team high 1,010 assists, and she has added 334 digs. Lawrence has 78 kills, 47 service aces, 29 blocks and a .251 hitting percentage this fall. Lawrence has become the school record holder in career service aces with 221 and in assists with 4,682 assists, breaking Katie Kramer's mark. Senior libero Alissa Bucsi (Bethlehem, PA/ Bethlehem Catholic HS) is second on the squad this season with 303 digs.

Senior middle hitter Shannon McNeil (Reading, PA/Reading Central Catholic HS) has contributed 227 kills, 119 digs, 59 blocks, a .296 hitting percentage and 49 service aces while junior outside hitter Christina Wallace (Bethlehem, PA/Bethlehem Catholic HS) has a team high 66 service aces to go along with 322 kills, 288 digs and 33 blocks. Senior right-side hitter Mary Kate Cordisco (Bethlehem, PA/Notre Dame HS) has 49 service aces this fall, and she has added 191 kills, 89 digs, 16 assists and 30 blocks. Cordisco had a school record 18 service aces in a 3-0 victory versus Washington (MD) College on August 29th, and she set an NCAA all-division record in the first game of that match, serving 25 consecutive points, 15 of them were service aces.

Senior right-side hitter Sara Hollenbacher (Reading, PA/Reading Central Catholic HS) has contributed 145 kills, 100 digs, 18 service aces and 35 blocks this season while senior defensive specialist Andrea Frankenfield (Emmaus, PA/Emmaus HS) has added 202 digs and 37 service aces. Freshman setter Valerie Korsak (Coplay, PA/Whitehall HS) has 71 digs, 243 assists, 32 kills and ten service aces in replacement of Lawrence while freshman defensive specialist Ashley Hugo (Bath, PA/Northampton HS) has added 22 digs and eight service aces.

Lebanon Valley has a 20-14 record this season, and the Flying Dutchmen are playing their first-ever home playoff match. The contest will also be the first event in Lebanon Valley’s new gymnasium.

Junior middle hitter Amanda Bahn leads the Flying Dutchmen with 385 kills and 60 service aces. Bahn also has contributed 355 digs and 80 blocks. Sophomore middle hitter/outside hitter Lexi Horstman has added 370 kills, 225 digs, 59 service aces, 29 assists and a team high 83 blocks. Senior outside hitter Sherri Pursel has 231 kills, 344 digs, 28 blocks and 19 service aces on the year.

Freshman outside hitter Natalie Goodfellow has contributed 174 kills, 81 digs, 34 blocks and 20 service aces this fall for Lebanon Valley while freshman outside hitter Steph Bedgar has 120 kills, 112 digs, 16 blocks and 15 service aces. Senior middle hitter Angie McCracken has added 155 kills, 71 blocks, 69 digs and 25 service aces while freshman outside hitter Erin Leiby has 24 kills and 22 digs.

Sophomore setter Catherine Roth leads Lebanon Valley with 1,336 assists, and she has added 395 digs, 67 kills, 43 service aces and 40 blocks. Sophomore libero Katie Ferree has a team high 539 digs while senior defensive specialist/libero Jenn Hahn has added 108 digs.