KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Bloomsburg volleyball team downed Kutztown, 3-1 (27-25, 25-22, 25-27, 25-20) in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) matchup inside Keystone Arena on Saturday evening.
 
Marlee Johnson (Newville, Pa./Big Spring) led the team with 19 kills with Katie Kuehl (Aston, Pa./Archmere Academy (Del.)) following closely behind with 16. Elise Adelman (Pataskala, Ohio/Watkins Memorial) tallied 40 assists, 17 digs and six aces in the contest. Overall, Bloomsburg (6-11, 4-1 PSAC East) boasted an average hitting percentage of .205 across its winning sets.
 
The Huskies 4-1 start in the PSAC is its best record through five games in conference play in program history.
 
Kutztown (1-17, 0-5) grabbed the early momentum as Bryanna Carter notched three kills and two aces in an 8-3 Golden Bears' run to start the game. The maroon and gold closed the gap with a four-point swing with kills from Kuehl and Emily Gustie (Crofton, Md./Crofton). A 6-2 run pushed KU's lead back to five points before Bloomsburg surged back with five-straight points to tie the game at 14 apiece.
 
Adelman's first ace of the contest highlighted a quick 3-1 burst from the Huskies to take their first lead of the set, 17-15. The two sides traded points back-and-forth to advance the score to 21-18 in favor of the maroon and gold before a 5-1 Kutztown run put the Golden Bears up 23-22 and within reach of closing out the set. A kill from Johnson knotted the score at 23-23 before Kutztown's Grace White responded to make it 24-23.
 
Johnson posted back-to-back kills to put Bloomsburg in the driver's seat with a 25-24 lead. An error from Johnson tied the game at 25-25 before the Huskies went back up on a KU service error. Katie Kuehl (Aston, Pa./Archmere Academy (Del.)) closed out the first set, 27-25 with her fourth kill of the frame.
 
Kutztown's Macy Shewmake opened the second set with back-to-back kills, however Bloomsburg cut off the early momentum with three kills and an ace to take the lead. Back-and-forth sequences kept the game within three points all the way to a 14-13 Golden Bears' lead. A kill from Gustie to tie the game at 14 kickstarted a six-point swing from the maroon and gold to take a 19-14 lead. An 8-3 response from KU knotted the score at 22-22. A kill from Johnson gave the Huskies the serve back which allowed Adelman to record back-to-back aces to end the set and put Bloomsburg up 2-0.
 
The third set saw Bloomsburg jump to an early 7-4 lead before Kutztown clawed the momentum back to a 14-11 lead. A 5-2 Huskies run tied the set at 16-16. From there the programs kept each other within two points until Kutztown eventually battled its way to a 27-25 victory in the third set.
 
Neither side could find the early edge in the fourth set, trading points in a back-and-forth affair that saw Bloomsburg ahead 9-8. A pair of kills from Johnson and a pair of aces from Adelman pushed the Huskies to a 13-8 advantage.  Despite the best efforts of the Golden Bears, Bloomsburg kept the host at bay before closing out the match on a service error to take the final set 25-20.
 
The Huskies are back in action on Friday, October 18 as they host Shippensburg at 6 p.m. inside Nelson Field House.