MEDIA, Pa. - Strong hitting days by both Kari Betson and Elena Zinaich helped the Hood College women's volleyball team to a pair of 3-1 wins over Penn College and Penn St. Brandywine.

Set scores against Penn were 24-26, 25-20, 25-18 and 25-14. Against the Nittany Lions, the Blazers won 25-15, 25-15, 20-25 and 25-13. 

Betson had matches of 21 and 20 kills to finish with 41 kills on the day. Zinaich hit .524 in the two wins with 38 total kills. The sophomore led the team with 10 blocks in the two wins. 

The duo was helped by the setting of Payton Belella, who had 92 total assists, including 47 against Penn College, the fourth-most in a match at Hood. 

Hood dropped the first set to the Wildcats, but got better as the match went on. The Blazers trailed 16-14 in the second set before before three kills by Betson fueled a 6-0 run. In the final two sets, Hood took early leads and slowly built commanding leads to put the match away. 

Zinaich had a monster match with 22 kills, 10 digs and four blocks. Betson finished with 21 kills, 13 digs and four service aces.

Sophie Coldsmith led Penn College with 12 kills and Lauren Slater added 27 assists.

Against Brandywine, Hood led 14-12 in the first set before a 10-0 run broke the set open. The second set went in similar fashion, with the Blazers pulling away with an 8-1 run after leading just 14-13. After falling in the third set, Hood dominated in the fourth to seal the victory. The Blazers jumped ahead 16-5 and never looked back. Hood had just one attack error in the set, while hitting .545.

Zinaich had 17 kills against just a single error in 28 attacks for a .571 hitting percentage. The sophomore also had six total blocks. Betson added 20 kills and three service aces. Belella netted 45 assists. 

Halee Kusner led Penn State Brandywine with 12 kills and Nikki Poissant added 10. Poissant led the team with 11 digs, while Sullivan Stark dished out 23 assists. 

Hood hosts Lebanon Valley on September 13 at 7 p.m.