VOLLEYBALL COMES BACK TO WIN POOL

Cross Country Junior David Chorney made Muhlenberg history by finishing first at the Lehigh Valley Championships. Chorney became the first Mule to win the race, which since 2001 has brought together runners from Division I, II and III schools. The previous best for a Muhlenberg runner was third place. Junior Timothy Van Syckle also ran a strong race, coming in fourth. The Mule men came in second, behind only host Lehigh, for the best finish ever. The women matched their best finish by coming in third, but last year when they were third only three teams competed. For the second straight week, the women were led by senior Sara Gearin (seventh), with freshman Abby Simons (ninth) not far behind. Click here for Muhlenberg box score. Click here for complete men’s results. Click here for complete women’s results. Women’s Soccer For the second game in a row, Muhlenberg lost a late lead and had to settle for a tie. This time it was Scranton scoring off a free kick with 3:10 remaining for a 1-1 draw. Playing their home opener, the Mules (1-0-2) took a 1-0 lead when sophomore Christina O’Grady scored on a breakaway with 12:57 elapsed. Muhlenberg had chances to extend the margin, but had one shot hit the crossbar and another go just wide. The Mules are 0-10-2 all-time against Scranton. The last three meetings have resulted in two ties and three one-goal losses. Click here for box score.

Sometimes it’s not how hard you hit ’em, it’s where you hit ’em.

Overpowered by Susquehanna in two straight games, the Muhlenberg

Junior Megan Eiser narrowly missed a triple-double in both matches. She had 30 assists, 17 digs and 8 kills against King’s and 45 assists, 12 digs and nine kills in the Susquehanna match.

volleyball changed its tactics and came back to win in five in its second match at the Buttermaker Tournament. Combined with an earlier sweep of King’s, the victory gave the Mules first place in their pool and a berth in Saturday’s Championship Bracket, along with York and Penn State Altoona.

Muhlenberg (5-2) scored the last three points to win the first game against Susquehanna, 31-29, but were soundly defeated, 30-20 and 30-17, in the next two.

“They have really strong hitters, so we had to figure out where they wouldn’t be,” said sophomore Brittany Williams. “If we couldn’t power through them, we had to be more strategic.”

Williams was a key part of that strategy. After playing sparingly in the first three games, she broke out for a career-high 10 kills, all in the fourth and fifth games. She had seven kills in the fourth game alone, helping the Mules to a 30-28 win.

In the decisive fifth game, Muhlenberg was clinging to a 9-8 lead when back-to-back kills by Williams created some breathing room. The Crusaders closed back to within one on four more occasions, but the Mules answered with a kill each time – in fact, nine of their 15 points came on kills. Senior Jess Anselmi had the last two kills and finished with a team-high 12 for the match.

The 15-13 win gave Muhlenberg its second five-game triumph in four nights. Three of the team’s last four matches have gone the distance.

“It’s a sprint to 15,” said Williams. “We’re usually a team that starts out slow, but we’re working on that.”

Strong finishing was the key to the King’s match. All three games were tied 22-22 or later, and the Mules pulled out each one, 30-27, 30-25 and 30-27. Sophomore Liz Dean recorded a career-high 14 kills.
Click here for box scores.