LHU Athletics Press Release

November 21, 2003
Edinboro and lock haven WILL DUAL FOR RegionAL SUPREMACY
Fighting Scots Get By Indiana (Pa.); Lady Eagles Defeat Lees-McRae in Semifinal Action

(Lock Haven, Pa.) -  With semifinal wins this evening, defending champion and second-seeded Edinboro University (26-11) and top-seed Lock Haven University (30-5) will meet in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Championship final tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. in Thomas Fieldhouse.

             Edinboro University (26-11) made its presence known early and never looked back, earning the chance to claim its fifth NCAA Atlantic Region Championship title tomorrow evening with a 3-0 win against Indiana (Pa.) University (24-12) in tonight’s semifinal round. The Fighting Scots swept the Indians in three games, totaling scores of 30-13, 30-26 and 30-15.
            In the nightcap, it took two exhausting hours but top-seeded Lock Haven University (30-5) earned a 3-1 victory against Lees-McRae College (31-12), winning games one and two, 30-27 and 31-29, falling behind 27-30 in the third before scoring the 30-27 victory in the fourth contest.
            In the first semifinal match, an attack error by Indiana in the first play forecasted the outcome of game one, as Edinboro would jump out to an early 8-1 lead. Fighting Scot blocking yielded a total of 13 on the game, including four in the first game, and prevented the Indians from establishing any rhythm at the net as they recorded a negative attack percentage. Edinboro’s offense was also in high gear, totaling 16 kills and a 58.3 attack percentage in game one paced by five kills from Amy Medicus. The Scots earned game-point on a service ace by Medicus, but were held off briefly from the win by a kill from Indiana middle Amy Badorf. The kill by Jen Shaw would close out the game, however, and give Edinboro the one-game lead with the 30-13 victory.
             Edinboro had to fight off a resilient Indiana team in game two, as the Indians came out and matched Edinboro point-for-point throughout most of the early going. The Fighting Scots would assemble a pair of four-point runs, however, moving out into a 21-18 lead after trailing by one, then taking a 25-19 lead after an Indiana kill by Marcy Stutzman. Two kills by Indiana ’s Kelly Wolff lessened the gap to four points at 26-22, but a kill by Katie Hummel moved the score to 27-22. An Edinboro attack error gave Indiana the ball and the point, but Indiana echoed the mis-hit on the very next play to bring the score to 28-23. A block by Medicus and Hummel brought the score to game-point, 29-24. A kill from Marcy Stutzman and a blocking error by Edinboro’s Alicia Knouff on another attempt by Stutzman moved the score to 29-26. Ashley Walton finished off the game with a kill straight down from the middle to give Edinboro the two-game advantage, 30-26.
            The Fighting Scots utilized a number of runs to polish off Indiana in game three. Ashley Walton paced Edinboro with eight kills out of 10 attempts, then Amy Medicus’ third service ace of the match came on the deciding point as the Scots took the 30-15 game and match victory.
            Edinboro’s Ashley Walton led attackers with 15 kills, hitting 63.6-percent. Amy Medicus posted 13 kills and eight digs, while Katie Hummel added 10 kills and seven blocks. Setter Renee Kam totaled 40 assists and 11 digs in the win.
            Michelle Jones led the Indians with eight kills, while Marcy Stutzman had seven kills and 13 digs. Setter Lacey George chipped in with 25 assists and nine digs.

Lock Haven's Michelle Deehan reaches
for the kill against the Lees-McRae blockers
in semifinal action this evening.

NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Championship Schedule
Thomas Fieldhouse - Lock Haven, Pa.

Sat., Nov. 22 – FINAL
6:30 p.m. – Semifinal Winners

Fri., Nov. 21 – SEMIFINALS
Box Scores:
(2) Edinboro def. Indiana, 3-0
(1) Lock Haven def. Lees-McRae, 3-1

Thurs., Nov. 20 - QUARTERFINALS
Match Story
Box Scores:
(3) Indiana (Pa.) def. (6) St. Augustine ’s, 3-1
(5) Lees-McRae def. (4) Clarion, 3-0

            In the second semifinal, Lock Haven climbed out to a 19-8 lead in game one and held on for the 30-27 victory despite a strong surge by Lees-McRae. The Bobcats had sliced the deficit down to two points at 29-27 before a kill by Lock Haven outside hitter Michelle Deehan silenced the come-back attempt with a kill on her first swing of the game for the win.
            The Lady Eagles were forced to rally for the game-two win, falling behind 29-23 before assembling a key eight-point run to steal the victory from Lees-McRae, 31-29. The run of points got started on a Bobcat attack error, then was energized by an ace from Kristi Kauffman. A block by Lillian Bortoto and setter Allison Furry on the next play brought LHU to 26-29, then two Bobcat attack errors flew wide to inch the Haven to within one, 28-29. Kauffman served up another ace to tie the score at 29 all, then Deehan registered another kill to bring LHU to game-point, 30-29. The Bobcats handled the serve, but the hit by Lacie Smith went wide as the Lady Eagles collected the 2-0 lead with the 31-29 game-two victory.
            Another close battle ensued in game three, with Lock Haven again finding itself trailing by a handful of points. The Lees-McRae offense was clicking, posting 18 kills including six from Lisa Scott. A kill from the outside hitter moved the score to 27-24 in the latter portion of the game, then two more Scott kills gave LMC the 29-26 lead. After a kill from Lock Haven, Scott sealed the win for LMC with her sixth kill, 30-27.
            Game four saw five lead changes with Lock Haven finally taking the advantage for good after a 25-25 tie. LHU moved out into a 28-25 lead after capitalizing from two Lees-McRae attack errors and a kill by Lillian Bortoto. The Bobcats called a timeout to talk things over, then Lisa Scott registered a kill to make the score 28-26. A Haven attack error on Michelle Deehan cut the gap to just one point, 28-27, but a ball-handling error called on the other side made it game and match point for the Lady Eagles. On the Lees-McRae attack by Scott, Allison Furry and Kelly Bebee went up for the block and recorded the point to advance Lock Haven to the finals.
            Lock Haven outside hitter Kristi Kauffman led all hitters with 20 kills and also paced the Lady Eagles with 22 digs and four service aces. Right-side hitter Amanda Snyder had 12 kills and 18 digs. Middle Lillian Bortoto added 10 kills and four blocks, and outside hitter Michelle Deehan also had 10 kills. Setter Allison Furry posted 58 assists, 13 digs and six blocks.
            For Lees-McRae, Lisa Scott totaled 15 kills and 12 digs. Tatiana Moore had 14 kills, 15 digs and two aces. AD Hunt registered 11 kills and 17 digs. Setter Lenka Jamrichova distributed 54 assists and came up with 13 digs.

###LHU###