The Lady Nittany Lions open up PSUAC tourney play at home on Wednesday at 6pm
October 22, 2018
Lemont Furnace, PA - The Penn State Fayette volleyball team (18-7, 9-1 PSUAC) opens up PSUAC playoff action Wednesday as the top seed when it hosts Penn State Mont Alto at 6 p.m.
Head coach Sam Swetz is excited to get the post-season rolling.
"We are peaking at the perfect time because most of the teams in our conference are used to what they saw all season," she said. "They won't be ready for the team that has just started peaking before the playoffs."
The team has won 14 of its last 15 matchups and has won 43 of 48 sets during the run.
When asked what the keys will be for a win, Swetz did not hesitate to answer.
"We just have to play Penn State Fayette volleyball," she said. "It is as simple as that and we need to stick to the high caliber of play that our team is intended for.
"If we stick to Fayette volleyball, we will win."
Fayette defeated Mont Alto (11-12, 4-6 PSUAC) twice this year and swept both matches, 3-0.
On September 19 at home, the team won the three sets by scores of 25-16, 25-14 and 25 19.
At the rematch on October 13 at Mont Alto, the scores were closer but Fayette prevailed 25-19, 25-19 and 25-20.
Swetz is not taking anything for granted.
"Mont Alto is a tough team that has always been a team that comes alive in big games," she said.
Swetz said that it is key for Siteri Tale (Uniontown/Laurel Highlands HS), Chanel Porter (Cumberland, MD/Allegany HS) and Jadyn Barnish (Carmichaels, Carmichaels HS) to be on their games and for Morgan Pytlak (Rillton, PA/Yough HS) and Kiki Martin (Brownsville, PA/Brownsville HS) to step up as well.
"Our key players, stats-wise, are Siteri, Chanel and Jadyn and they need to be in sync in order to have a successful game," Swetz said. "However, Morgan has been such an energetic person on the court this season as a captain and Kiki has proven to be a major part of our offense this season coming alive in big games.
"I am so proud of this team as a whole because you never know which one will have a star game and it makes us a deadly force against other teams."
The winning team advances to the semifinals on Monday.
For more information on the team, go to https://www.psfathletics.com/sports/wvball/index.
Written by Bill Hughes