CINCINNATI, Ohio - On Saturday, October 21st your #15 Mount St. Joseph University Women's Volleyball Team welcomed the Grizzlies of Franklin College to the Harrington Center. It was a special weekend for the Lions as Homecoming festivities took place. On Friday night, the Women's Volleyball program was honored at the 2023 MSJ Athletic Hall of Fame Ceremony. Both the 1977 Women's Volleyball team and 2010 Mount Graduate Jamie Grauvogel were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Both parties were recognized on Saturday night's game as the Lions looked to improve on their 18-1 record.
Out of the gate, the Grizzlies jumped out to an early lead. Franklin grabbed the 1st 4 points of the set before the Lions would tie it up at 5. The Lions would then take the lead thanks to a pair of kills from
Grace Young and a service ace from
Hannah Graves as the Lions held a 9-7 advantage. The Grizzlies would get a point back before
Emma Sicking would do damage. Sicking would register 3 straight kills giving the Lions a 12-8 lead. Each squad then traded rallies before the Lions would pull away.
Emily Pfeifer and
Grace Young would each grab a kill followed by 3 attacking errors from the Grizzlies to give the Lions a 22-14 lead.
Hannah Graves would cement the Lions set one victory with a kill leaving the score at 25-17.
In the 2nd set, the Lions started slow. The Grizzlies built an early lead of 10-5 before adding to it to make it 15-8. Each squad would trade rallies as the Lions couldn't draw closer. The Grizzlies looked confident up 22-15 before a timeout from the Lions. Following the timeout the Lions came out on fire. The Mount scored 8 straight points pulling them back into the match. 4 kills from
Emma Sicking and a pair of kills from
McKenzee Wagener led the Lions charge as they took at 23-22 lead. The Lions run would end on a service error but would grab the final 2 points via kills from Sicking and Wagener. The Lions would fight back from down 7 late to take set two 25-23.
In the 3rd and final set it was straight dominance from the Lions. The Mount would take the first 6 points before going on a massive run. After leading 9-2, the Lions would score 11 straight with 3 kills from Pfeifer, 2 kills from
Ruthie Bingham and 1 kill from Young to take a massive 20-2 lead. Franklin would get a point back but that would be it. The Lions would grab the final 5 points including a kill from
Addie Conley to take set three 25-3. The Lions looked sharp after a massive comeback in set two.
Emma Sicking led the way offensively finishing with a team high 12 kills while hitting .207. Both middle hitters followed with
Grace Young and
McKenzee Wagener tallying 8 kills. The pairing was a problem in the middle hitting .316 and .615 respectively combining for 3 blocks.
Emily Pfeifer was also productive grabbing 7 kills while hitting .263.
Grace Wilking and
Erin Androne were productive defensively each tallying 16 digs without an error.
UP NEXT: Your #15 Mount St. Joseph University Lions are back in action on Wednesday, October 25th as they travel to Hanover, Ind. to take on the Panthers of Hanover College. The game is scheduled to begin at 7 PM.
