Bowers, Howland lead Panthers to win

            PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Juniors Lex Bowers (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) and Shannon Howland (Delmar, N.Y.) teamed up to lead Plymouth State University to a 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-13) sweep of St. Joseph's College (Maine) in non-conference women's volleyball action at Foley Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

            Bowers led the Panthers with seven kills without an error (7-0-21) and matched a team-high with nine digs, while Howland led all players with 20 assists and four aces.

            Plymouth State improves to 4-1 on the year, while the Monks move to 0-4.

            The Basics:

            Plymouth State 3, St. Joseph's (Maine) 0

            Plymouth State 4-1

            St. Joseph's (Maine) 0-4

            How it Happened:

            * The game remained tight through the early stages of the first set until the Panthers' block earned three straight points for a 13-8 lead. After trading side outs, PSU ran four more points behind a pair of aces by Howland to push the margin to 18-9 and the Panthers cruised from there.

            * PSU used an early 5-1 burst in set two to take a 9-5 lead that would hold up for the duration. Plymouth took advantage of a string of Monks' errors to push the lead to 23-14 and PSU capped the second set win with a booming kill from senior Ari Linden (Lena, Ill.).

            * St. Joseph's came out aggressive to start the third set, building an early 3-0 lead behind a pair of kills and a Panther error. PSU rallied behind the strong blocking of Linden and junior Allie Rogers (Sandown, N.H.) to pull in front, 9-4, and the Monks wouldn't get closer than four points the rest of the way.

            Inside the Numbers:

            * PSU limited the Monks to an .023 attack percentage while hitting .256 themselves, including .333 in the third set.

            * Linden matched a career high with six blocks and added five kills and five digs.

            * Howland's four aces give her 20 for the season. She's averaging a ridiculous 1.25 per set, good enough for top-30 in the country.

            * Senior Jennelle Thompson (Rochester, N.H.) was all over the place for the Monks, posting a match-high 23 digs.

            * Senior Sarah Dyer (Seabrook, N.H.) posted a double-double for SJC, finishing with 13 assists and 10 digs.

            * PSU improves to 15-2 all-time against St. Joseph's. Each of the last 11 match-ups have been decided in three sets, with the Monks winning in 2015 and Plymouth State taking the other ten.

            Straight from the Coach's Mouth:

            "We had good energy and good cohesiveness tonight," praised head coach Joan Forge. "I love it. It was a team effort and I thought our setters really mixed it up well."

            Up Next:

            * PSU opens play at the Granite State Challenge with a pair of matches on Friday (Sept. 7) at New England College. The Panthers will face Elmira College at 6:00 p.m. before meeting the host Pilgrims at 8:00 p.m.

            * St. Joe's is off until Saturday (Sept. 8) when they travel to Wentworth Institute of Technology for a 12:00 p.m. game.

– 30 –