Box Score

An intense Commonwealth Conference volleyball match went down to the wire, with Albright losing a heartbreaker 3-2 at Lycoming on Tuesday.

The deciding fifth set went to a tiebreaker, before the hosts finally took a 3-2 (25-14, 22-25, 25-16, 16-25, 16-14) decision that drops Albright to 1-3 in league play.

Junior Brandy Blimline had 15 kills and hit .345 on the day, adding three blocks to her outstanding performance. Libero Caitlin Klotzbach had 30 digs, while classmate Maddy Greth added eight kills, four service aces and 14 digs.

Albright had battled back from an 11-9 deficit in the deciding fifth set with a Kyrsten Stanford block and a Greth kill. Trailing 14-12 and facing match point, a Blimline kill and Greth ace gave the Lions life before Lycoming ended the thriller with two straight points.

Kills from Blimline and Christa Mantz gave Albright an early lead in game one, and a Greth service ace pushed the advantage to 6-3. Lycoming answered with three straight points to tie the contest at 6-6.

From that point, neither side led by more than two until consecutive service aces from Amber Seibel made it 14-11 Warriors and forced Albright to call timeout. Seibel would add two more aces as Lycoming ultimately scored 11 straight points to run away with the set.

The Lions would again lead early in game two, with kills from Marisa Bartone and Stanford giving Albright an early 5-3 advantage. Lycoming would answer with four straight points however.

Two more Greth aces gave Albright a 15-11 lead, but yet again the Warriors rallied to tie. Trailing 22-21, four straight Red and White points locked up the set- ending with a block by Bartone and Blimline.

After Lycoming won easily in game three, the Lions wouldn't go away. Two Blimline kills and a block by Greth gave Albright a 9-1 lead in game four, and Stanford's kill kept the Lions ahead 13-6. Blimline closed out the set with a kill.

The Lions (5-9, 1-3) are off until an October 4 home match against Messiah College.