ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona women's volleyball team hosted non-conference opponents Penn College and Washington & Jefferson College for a tri-match in Adler Arena on Saturday, and the Lions came away with a win and a loss from the day's action.

Penn State Altoona (1-5) picked up its first win of the season to start the tri-match, sweeping Penn College 3-0. In their second match of the day, the Lions suffered a 3-1 loss to Washington & Jefferson.

W&J defeated Penn College 3-0 in the middle match.

Match One: Penn State Altoona 3, Penn College 0

The Lions notched their first victory of the 2025 campaign to open Saturday's tri-match, taking care of Penn College (1-5) in straight sets by scores of 25-11, 25-17, and 25-14. Penn State Altoona served up 19 aces as a team, representing the fourth-most in a match in team history.

Kyla Campbell (Altoona, PA/Great Commission) led all players in the match with eight points on three kills, two block assists, and a match-high four service aces. Lia Simanski (Altoona, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle) scored seven points on four kills and three aces, and Johanna Heckman (Bellwood, PA/Bellwood-Antis) had six points on four kills and a pair of aces.

Julia Emel (Woodward, PA/Penns Valley) tallied a team-best 11 assists while adding six digs, and Marlo Mellish (Kittanning, PA/Armstrong) contributed eight assists and a team-high seven digs.

Penn State Altoona jumped out to a 6-1 lead to start set one, including a Maggie Brewer (NuMine, PA/West Shamokin) kill and aces from Campbell and Ella Hadley (Spring Mills, PA/Penns Valley). Later, the Lions went on a 9-0 run to break the set open, boosting their lead to 17-5. Leading 21-11 late in the set, a Simanski kill and three straight aces from Brooklyn Myers (Grassflat, PA/West Branch) ended the set at 25-11, in favor of Penn State Altoona.

In the second set, the Lions found themselves trailing 11-9 before outscoring the Wildcats 16-6 the rest of the way. An Emel ace helped Penn State Altoona to a 14-12 advantage, and Heckman's ace made it 17-13. Holding a 20-17 lead later, the Lions scored the final five points of the set, four of which came courtesy of Penn College attack errors, to win it 25-17.

Penn State Altoona broke a 3-3 tie early in the third set with a Morgan Fussell (Blairsville, GA/Union County) solo block, and two Heckman kills and a Makiya Mack (Philipsburg, PA/West Branch) ace made it 7-4. Midway through the set, the Lions went on a 5-0 run, capped by a Jayden Ulmer (Williamsport, PA/Williamsport) kill that made it 14-7. Another 5-0 Lions run later in the set included two aces from Nicole Pierce (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park) and a kill by Jadeyn Price (Altoona, PA/Altoona) to boost the home team's advantage to 19-11. A Hadley kill, Myers solo block, and Emma Ray (Ruckersville, VA/William Monroe) kill represented three of Penn State Altoona's last four points in the set, and the Lions won the third by a score of 25-14 to clinch the sweep.

Match Two: W&J 3, Penn State Altoona 1

The Lions started their second match of the day with a 25-21 victory in the opening set against W&J (5-2). But the Presidents began to click in the second set and rattled off set wins of 25-19, 25-22, and 25-20 to hand Penn State Altoona a four-set loss.

Brewer put up a team-best 11 points on 10 kills and two block assists, and Hadley added eight points on six kills and two aces while also leading the Lions in digs with 19. Simanski contributed seven kills and 13 digs.

Emel finished with 16 assists to go along with nine digs and two aces, and Mellish totaled 15 assists.

Brianna Woodring (Greencastle, PA/Greencastle-Antrim) recorded 15 digs and served a pair of aces.

Penn State Altoona scored the first four points of the opening set, using three W&J miscues and an Emel ace to make it 4-0. The Presidents came back to jump ahead, 12-10, but a 6-1 run by Penn State Altoona put the Lions back in front, 16-13. A W&J attack error, back-to-back Brewer kills, and a Simanski kill put Penn State Altoona up by five, 20-15. Clinging to a 22-21 advantage late in the set, a kill from Hadley and two more President errors gave Penn State Altoona a 25-21 victory to start the match.

The Lions established an early lead in the second set, as kills from Brewer and Simanski and an ace from Mack helped the home team to a 9-6 advantage. Later, a 4-0 Lions run that included kills from Brewer and Simanski made it 13-11, and more kills by Brewer and Mack put Penn State Altoona's lead at 15-13. But W&J erased its deficit with a 4-0 run, part of a larger rally in which the Presidents outscored the Lions 12-4 over the rest of the set. W&J took the second set 25-19, and the match was knotted at 1-1.

In the third set, W&J scored the first three points, but Penn State Altoona answered with four straight to leap in front, 4-3. Kills from Campbell, Brewer, and Price, along with aces from Woodring and Mellish, got the Lions' lead to 10-6, and a Hadley kill and W&J attack error made it 12-7. But the Presidents again used a run to come from behind and seize the lead, as the visitors reeled off eight straight points to work their way on top, 15-12. Penn State Altoona was able to tie the score at 18-18 and 22-22, getting blocks along the way from Campbell, Brewer, and Mack. But W&J nabbed the last three points of the set to win it 25-22 and take the lead in the match.

Penn State Altoona took a 5-2 lead to begin the fourth set, thanks to five W&J attack errors. Two kills from Ulmer and another error by the visitors got the Lions up by three points, 8-5, and another Ulmer kill made it 9-6. Penn State Altoona got kills from Fussell and Hadley over the next several points, but the Presidents chipped away at their deficit and tied the score 11-11. W&J took the lead after that and never looked back, using three straight points to go up 14-11. The Presidents expanded their lead to 20-14 and went on to prevail in the fourth set by a score of 25-20, sealing a four-set match win over the Lions.

Next up, Penn State Altoona women's volleyball heads into a 13-match stretch of away contests, starting with a road match at non-conference opponent Saint Vincent College on Tuesday, September 9 at 7 p.m.