Box Score

The Albright College volleyball team picked the perfect time to snap its early-season losing streak, beating local rival Alvernia in five sets in the Lions' Commonwealth Conference opener, Tuesday night in the Bollman Center.

Albright is now 1-8 on the season but is 1-0 in the all-important conference playoff standings. The Lions jumped out to a two-game lead and survived Alvernia's rally to run away with the fifth and deciding set and win 3-2 (25-11, 25-23, 15-25, 23-25, 15-6).

Sophomore Christa Mantz had a team-high 11 kills to go with four service aces, while freshmen Brandy Blimline and Kyrsten Stanford forced their way into the rotation and made their mark with eight kills apiece. Setter Morgan Heath dished out 30 assists.

Also putting up good numbers were libero Alexa Jones (4 aces, 15 digs, 20 receptions) and senior Laura van Bendegem (seven kills, two blocks).

Albright jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the deciding fifth game, with Casey McFadden serving. The run included an unassisted kill by Heath and was capped by a kill from Mantz. The Crusaders got back to within three, but McFadden's great dig led to another Mantz point and a 6-2 Lions lead.

Jones' ace made it 13-5 and all but locked up the game, a result that became official on an Alvernia attack error three plays later.

Albright led 16-8 early in game one, after aces from Mantz and Jones. Van Bendegem then had a kill and teamed with Blimline for a block assist to make it 18-9. The Lions would stretch their lead to 11 when Blimline assisted van Bendegem for a 20-9 advantage.

The pair continued to dominate the opening game, with an unassisted Blimline kill making it 22-9 and a van Bendegem kill on the ensuing play pushing the gap all the way to 23-9.

Despite four early service errors, Albright fought off the Crusaders in game two, rallying from a 17-19 deficit to win 25-23. An ace from McFadden tied the score at 21-21 and two Alvernia errors gave Albright a 2-0 lead.

The Lions' Reading neighbors rallied however, taking games 3 and 4 to force a tie-breaking fifth set. The third set did feature consecutive aces from both Alyssa Hoogendoorn and Mantz.

Albright is back in action on Thursday at Penn State- Brandywine.