BETHLEHEM, Pa. – For the Ursinus College volleyball team, 3-0 scores were the theme this past weekend at the Greyhound Premiere Invitational hosted by Moravian College.
On Friday, the Bears dropped two matches to Moravian and Marywood by 3-0 scores, only to bounce back on Saturday to defeat both Centenary (N.J.) and College of New Rochelle by a 3-0 scores to secure a 2-2 mark after the first weekend of play.
Another theme that repeated itself this weekend was junior setter Gina Powers (Wallingford, Pa./Strath Haven), who was named to the All-Tournament team for the third straight year.
The 2-0 mark on Saturday secured the Bears a victory in the Silver Bracket.
As for the Friday matches, Ursinus started the afternoon by taking on the host Greyhounds, falling by set scores of 25-18, 25-12 and 25-16. Individually, sophomore outside hitter Karla Thiele (Lakeland, Fla./George Jenkins Senior) led the way with a team-high eight kills, to go along with ten digs.
Junior libero Leah Masiello (New Castle, Del./St. Elizabeth's) had a team-high 15 digs.
Against Marywood, Ursinus lost by set scores of 25-21, 25-15 and 25-18. Senior middle blocker Anahi McIntyre (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West) had a team-high nine kills, with Thiele going for seven. Thiele also had 28 digs in the match, also dealing out three service aces.
Saturday morning started out strong for Ursinus, as they defeated Centenary by set scores of 25-4, 25-6 and 25-12 en route to the first win of 2013. Ursinus had a .306 hitting percentage as they made just one error in each of the first two sets, finishing with just five hitting errors in 49 total attempts (20-5-49).
McIntyre was one of seven players to record kills, as she finished with five. Powers had four on the morning, along with 14 assists.
In the final match against College of New Rochelle, Ursinus won by set scores of 25-15, 26-24 and 25-8.
Thiele finished the tourney with ten kills in the final match, while Powers had 20 assists. Junior defensive specialist Joy Oakman (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon) finished with a team-high 13 digs. Sophomore Kathryn Yoo (Hokendaugua, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) added in three service aces.
Ursinus now takes the week off, before heading to the Main Line for a tri-match at Rosemont. Wesley will also take part in the tri-match on Saturday.