College notebook: Can you dig it? Levers helps Pitt win ACC title
Kylee Levers
Aaron Harris
Marlena Schmidt
Sierra Kotchman
The Pitt women’s volleyball recently concluded a landmark season, winning its second consecutive ACC championship, advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament and finishing with a 31-2 record.
Kylee Levers, a redshirt sophomore and a Chartiers-Houston graduate, played significant role in the Panthers’ success.
A setter, Levers played in 111 of a possible 114 sets for the Panthers. She was second on the team with 596 assists and had a season-high 29 against Charleston. A strong defensive player, Levers had seven blocks in Pitt’s win over Miami (Fla.). She had 21 assists in Pitt’s sweep of Iona in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Levers was named Pitt’s Female Student-Athlete of the Week for Oct. 1-7. She was a major contributor that week in wins over Syracuse and Boston College. She averaged a team-high 6.29 assists per set over the week and was second with 1.14 blocks per set. Against the Orange, Levers was an asset in the front row, good for two kills and five blocks. She followed that with 21 assists in a 3-0 sweep of Boston College.
Levers was a three-time Section 6-A first team selection at Chartiers-Houston even though she did not play a junior because of an injury. As a senior, she played on C-H’s first section championship team in 24 years.
In soccer
Ben Montgomery, a former standout soccer player at peters Township High School, was recently inducted into the Allegheny College Athletic Hall of Fame.
Montgomery was one of six inductees in the Class of 2018.
A two-year captain for the Gators, Montgomery was a dynamic two-way midfielder throughout his four-year career and helped Allegheny to its most successful season in program history. After playing all 36 games and totaling four goals and two assists during his freshman and sophomore seasons of 2001 and 2002, Montgomery earned all-region and North Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Year honors in 2003, scoring 15 points on four goals (three game-winners) and three assists. As a senior in 2004, Montgomery again was named first team All-NCAC with 16 points on four goals and four assists.
During the 2004 season, the Gators entered the NCAC tournament as the fourth seed but upset Wooster and Denison to win the school’s first conference championship and a berth in the NCAA Division III playoffs, where they had a pair of shootout victories to reach the round of 16.
Allegheny went 46-22-7 during Montgomery’s four-year career. In 2013, Montgomery was named to the NCAC’s 30th Anniversary All-Decade Team, which recognized the conference’s top performers between the years 2003-12.
Hofstra’s Sabrina Bryan, a sophomore forward from Cecil and a Canon-McMillan graduate, was named All-East Region by the United Soccer Coaches (USC) Association.
Bryan, who collected second team honors, finished the season ranked first in the Colonial Athletic Association in points, notching a CAA-best 13 goals and 30 points. She ranked second on the team in game-winning goals with five and helped Hofstra to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Penn State Behrend women’s soccer freshman forward Brenna McGuire, a McDonald native and South Fayette graduate, was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year.
It is the third Player of the Year honor for McGuire, who was the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Newcomer of the Year and AMCC Offensive Player of the Year. McGuire led the AMCC with 18 goals and five assists for 41 points. McGuire earned ECAC Rookie of the Month for her standout play in the month of October. She started every game, registering three game-winning goals and scoring more than one goal in six contests.
McGuire helped the Lions win their eighth straight AMCC championship and gain a berth in the NCAA Division III tournament. Behrend had a 13-7 overall record and was 9-0 in the AMCC.
Aaron Harris, a junior midfielder at Penn State Behrend and a McGuffey graduate, was selected to United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division III All-Great Lakes Region Team.
Harris controlled the midfield for the Lions, contributing four goals and four assists for 12 points. He scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner, against Pitt-Bradford. He also scored the lone goal against Calvin in the NCAA sectional semifinals.
Harris was one of three local players named to the All-Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference team. He was named to the first team.
Joining Harris on the All-AMCC team were Logan Brinsky, a freshman forward from Peters Township, and Nick McKee, a senior midfielder and a South Fayette graduate. Brinsky was named to the third team finishing the season tied for the team lead with nine goals. Brinsky had a hat trick against Pitt-Bradford and scored a pair of goals against Franciscan in the AMCC tournament semifinals. McKee, also a third-team selection, scored two goals and had two assists.
In basketball
Bucknell’s Kaitlyn Slagus, a Belle Vernon graduate, was named the Patriot League Player of the Week on Nov. 26 after leading the Bison to a 3-0 record and the tournament championship at Brown University’s Turkey Tip-Off. Additionally, the senior was selected as the Bison Athlete of the Week.
Slagus earned MVP honors in the tournament after averaging 19 points and seven rebounds in wins over UMass (77-58), Fairfield (77-54) and Brown (91-78). She capped the tournament with an outstanding performance, scoring a career-high 30 points with six rebounds in the win over Brown.
Slagus shot 58 percent (19-for-33) from the field and 83 percent (15-for-18) from the line. She opened the tournament with a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 8-for-11 in a win over UMass.
Sierra Kotchman, a sophomore guard at Fairmont State and a Trinity graduate, took a 16.2 scoring average into the Falcons’ game Thursday night against Salem. Kotchman is the leading scorer for Fairmont State.
A former Observer-Reporter Girls Basketball Player of the Year, Kotchman had a season-high 29 points in a game Nov. 10 against Lock Haven and had 28 against Glenville State on Nov. 28. In the Glenville game, Kotchman made 10 of 11 shots from the field and six of seven from three-point range.
For the season, Kotchman is shooting 84 percent from the free-throw line and 26 percent from three-point range.
The Southeastern University women’s basketball team is off to a 9-0 start and is ranked No. 2 in NAIA Division II. Marlena Schmidt, a 6-6 junior from Eighty Four and a Ringgold graduate, is a big reason why the Fire are off to the undefeated start.
Schmidt has started all nine games for the school, located in Lakeland, Fla. She is averaging 9.0 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, has blocked 21 shots and is shooting 59 percent from the field.
Schmidt has her best game in an 88-62 win over Webber International on Nov. 15 when she made 10 of 13 shots, five of seven free throws, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked two shots.
In volleyball
Penn State Behrend senior outside hitter Amanda Henry, a South Fayette graduate, was named to the All-Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference second team.
Henry led Behrend with 270 kills and was second with 267 digs. She ranked second in the AMCC in aces (44) and is seventh in kills. Henry had double-digit digs and kills in 14 matches, and recorded seven double-doubles. She had 15 kills on four occasions and posted a season-best 17 digs against Westminster.
Behrend had a 20-11 record and advanced to the ECAC quarterfinals.
Penn State Fayette’s Jaydn Barnish, a freshman from carmichaels, was named Division II All-American by the United States Collegiate Athletic Association.
Barnish helped Penn State Fayette to a 23-9 record and 810 assists at an average of 7.86 per set.
In track & field
Westminster junior Tim Maxwell, a Washington native and McGuffey graduate, was named the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Indoor Field Athlete of the Week on Monday. Maxwell placed second in the pole vault at the Youngstown State Icebreaker that was held last Friday. He cleared a career-best mark of 14-8 ¼ and the vault currently ranks eighth in NCAA Division III.
In wrestling
Washington & Jefferson freshman Manny Dovshek, a Bentleyville resident and Bentworth graduate, has twice been selected as the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Wrestling Rookie of the Week.
Dovshek was one of five Presidents to place at the two-day Messiah Petrofes Invitational, finishing sixth in the 21-wrestler, 125-pound bracket. He went 4-3 at the tournament, scoring wins by fall. Following a loss in the quarterfinals, Dovshek bounced back by pinning Brantley Guckert of Alderson Broaddus in 37 seconds and Luke Hewitt of Mount Union in 5:10 to secure a spot in the fifth-place match.
Dovshek has a 12-8 record with eight pins and two wins by decision.
Billy Bowlen, a junior for Seton Hill, finished second last weekend at 184 pounds in the PSAC Championships.
Bowlen, who is from Crucible and wrestled for Jefferson-Morgan, opened the conference tournament with a fall in 2:40 over Connor Rogovich of Kutztown. In the semifinals, Bowlen was a 6-4 winner over Trever Begin of Mercyhurst before losing a 6-2 decision in the finals to Zach Ancewicz of Edinboro.
In football
Anthony Davidson, a senior defensive lineman for Johns Hopkins and a South Fayette graduate, was recently named to the D3football.com All-South Region team and the All-Centennial Conference first team.
Davidson had his best season with John Hopkins this fall, helping the Blue Jays to the conference championship, a 12-2 record and three wins in the NCAA Division III playoffs. Davidson ranked third on the team with 67 tackles, including 13/5 for loss and six quarterback sacks. He also forced and recovered one fumble.
Compiled by Chris Dugan