Box Score

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Gettysburg College volleyball team closed off the 2007 regular season in strong fashion on Saturday afternoon, handing host Muhlenberg College a 3-0 (30-26, 30-13, 30-25) decision in Centennial Conference action. The Bullets, who locked up the No. 4 seed in the league tournament, improved their season record to 17-12 overall and 7-3 in the conference.

By securing the fourth spot in the Centennial standings, Gettysburg will host the fifth-seed, Dickinson College (11-15, 6-4 CC), in the first round of the league playoffs set for Wednesday, Oct. 31 at a time to be announced. The Bullets defeated the Red Devils in four games (32-30, 24-30, 30-25, 30-21) in the squads' regular season meeting on Oct. 24. The winner of Wednesday's contest will advance to the semifinals and finals of the Centennial Conference Tournament on Nov. 3-4.

Gettysburg set a strong tone early against Muhlenberg (11-19, 3-7 CC), pounding out 20 kills in the opening game alone. A trio of Bullets finished with double-digit kills totals, led by senior Katie Heffner (Easton, Pa./Easton) and freshman Kate Yoder (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus) with a dozen each. Sophomore Kristina Mercier (Baltimore, Md./Mount de Sales Academy) was right behind the duo with 11 kills, while Heffner also added 13 digs for her fifth double-double of the season and fourth in the last five matches.

The Mules had nearly the same number of attacks as the Bullets, but the hosts couldn't find any holes in the defense as the visitors notched 104 digs and nine total team blocks. Sophomore Kristin Kotewicz (Columbia, Md./River Hill) led the effort with 22 digs, while classmates Amanda Krampf (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg) and Stephanie Rickabaugh (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) each came up with 20. Mercier led the net defense with four total blocks.

Krampf paced the offense with 38 assists on the day, marking her seventh consecutive match with 35 or more helpers. Senior Katie Potochney (Roselle, N.J./Roselle Catholic) tallied a dozen digs and led the service game with three aces.