TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - The top two seeds in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Volleyball Tournament will meet in the championship game after No. 1 Chatham University and No. 2 Bethany College posted home victories in Thursday's semifinal round.

Both top seeds swept their semifinal matches, with Chatham winning 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-20) over fourth-seeded Washington & Jefferson College, while Bethany scored a 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-23) victory over the third seed, Allegheny College.

The Cougars will now host the Bison in the PAC Tournament Championship game Saturday night at 7 pm in Pittsburgh and the match will be broadcast by the PAC Sports Network. Chatham is seeking its first PAC championship in program history, while Bethany will be trying to win its fourth overall and second in a row after capturing the 2022 title with a victory at Thiel College in last year's title match.

The teams played once during the 2023 regular season, which was the PAC opener for both back on Oct. 4th. Chatham went to Bethany and came away with a 3-1 (25-23, 14-25, 25-16, 26-24) triumph.

In Thursday's semifinal, the Cougars (18-5) pulled away late in the first set to take a 1-0 lead. A 7-1 Chatham run midway through the set opened up a 17-12 advantage, but the Presidents (14-14) rallied to get within two at 18-16. Chatham put the set away with another 7-1 surge to close out a 25-17 victory.

After a close start to the second set, Chatham again took control when another 7-1 Cougar run turned a 12-11 deficit into an 18-13 lead. The lead shortly grew to six and would remain there, as Chatham went ahead 2-0 with a 25-19 win.

In the third set, Chatham had a string of six straight points to build a 13-9 lead. W&J managed to get within one at 15-14, but would get no closer. The Cougars scored five of the next six to build a 20-15 margin and at match point, senior Jena Williams (Seattle, Wash./Roosevelt) delivered the final kill that closed out the 3-0 win and sent Chatham to the PAC Championship match for the first time in school history.

Williams was the lone player in the match to reach double figures in kills with 11. Passing out 15 assists was freshman Ava Plunkard (Butler, Pa./Butler), while the defensive efforts were led by freshman Becca Gesner (San Diego, Calif./Valley Canter) with seven blocks at the net and senior Meghan Dominek (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) with 15 digs in the back row. Sophomore Alyssa Leskovac (Youngstown, Ohio/Austintown Fitch) had a strong all-around night with eight kills, 11 digs and four aces.

The top hitter on the night for W&J was sophomore Faith Fetsko (South Park, Pa./South Park) with nine kills, while freshman Brielle Moorhouse (East Liberty, Ohio/Benjamin Logan) passed off nine assists and sophomore Piper McFarland (West Mifflin, Pa./Cornerstone Preparatory Academy) brought up 11 digs.

The opening set in the Bethany/Allegheny semifinal was even at 6-6 before the Bison (21-7) surged in front by tallying six of the next seven points. Bethany maintained a comfortable lead and had set point at 24-17 before the Gators (22-9) rallied with five in a row to make it to 24-22, but a service error gave the Bison the final point and a 1-0 lead.

In the second, Bethany put together an 8-2 run to take an 18-13 advantage. Allegheny would chip away and cut the deficit to 22-21 on a kill by freshman Angelee Bawek (Goodyear, Ariz./Estrella Foothills). The Bison answered with kills by senior Destiny Goodnight (Youngstown, Ohio/Ursuline) and graduate student Riley Felton (Salineville, Ohio/Southern Local) before an attack error closed out the 25-21 Bison win.

The third set went down the wire, as it featured eight ties. The last one was at 15-15 before Bethany pulled in front with a 5-1 run. The Bison lead did not grow larger than four down the stretch and the Gators got back within one at 23-22. After a kill by Bison senior Emma Marthins (Elkridge, Md./Howard), Allegheny fended off one match point, but they could not fight off another, as Bethany scored the final point to complete the sweep and advance to the PAC Title game for the third consecutive season and fifth time in the last eight years.

Felton was the leading hitter for Bethany with 11 kills and a .348 hitting percentage in the match, while Marthins had nine kills and added five blocks, including four solos. Freshman Alaina Torres (Lanexa, Va./New Kent) registered 34 assists and junior Asia Crim (Shoals, Ind/Loogootee) had a match-high 20 digs.

For Allegheny, Bawek led the Gators with 14 kills, while also matching that total in digs. Sophomore Izzy Gray (Erie, Pa./Harbor Creek) led the team with 14 assists, while also producing 13 digs, and her second-year teammate Jacy Diaz (Barranquitas, Puerto Rico/Gallatin (Tenn.)) recorded a team-high 18 digs.