READING, Pa. – The Albright women's volleyball team came back from a 2-1 set deficit to win a dramatic 3-2 match (25-22, 22-25, 16-25, 25-17, 15-12) over Hood on Wednesday night at the Bollman Center in MAC Commonwealth play.
With the win on senior night, the Lions improve to 9-10 overall and 1-5 in MAC Commonwealth play. This is the first MAC Commonwealth win for the Lions since they defeated Alvernia in five sets on October 27
th, 2016. Meanwhile, the Blazers fall to 13-11 on the season and 1-5 in conference play.
Sophomores
Bryana Chambers and
Damaris Gomez led the Lions with 11 kills each on the night. Gomez also added six digs and Chambers posted two blocks as well. Classmate
Liz Bacovin registered a career-high 10 kills and added two digs, while
Kaitlyn Chell posted 11 digs, five kills, and two service aces in the win. Sophomore
Alexa Poss paced the offense with 36 assists and added 10 digs, along with five kills. Senior
Becca Davis recorded a game-high 29 digs as she celebrated her senior night.
The Lions jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first set behind three service aces from Poss. Albright then won five of six points to extend its lead to 10-3 and force a Blazers timeout. Hood came out of the timeout and took five-straight points to cut the Lions lead down to 10-8. Albright took three of the next four points to go up 13-9 before the Blazers took seven of the next eight points to take their first lead of the night up 16-14. The Lions fought back out of a timeout and took nine of the next 10 points to take a commanding 23-17 lead. With the Lions up 24-19, the Blazers rallied to take three straight points until Albright ended the set with a kill from Gomez.
The second set started back and forth as the score stood tied at four until the Lions took five of the next seven points to go up 9-6. Hood responded by taking five of the next six points to take an 11-10 lead. The Blazers took a 14-12 lead until the Lions took four of the next five points to take the lead back at 16-15. Each team traded points to leave the score tied at 17 before the Blazers won five of the next seven points to go up 22-19. Down 24-20, the Lions won back-to-back points to make it a two-point deficit before the Blazers tied the game up on a kill. The third set was all Hood as they raced out to an early 9-2 lead and eventually went up 15-5 behind eight kills. Albright rallied to cut the deficit down to 16-9, but Hood again struck back by taking four of the next five points to go back up 20-10. The Blazers then closed the set out by holding off a late Lions run to win 25-16.
Down 2-1 in the match, the Lions got off to a fast start and took an early 9-2 lead in the fourth set. Albright worked its way out to a 12-4 lead before the Blazers took four of the next five points to make it 13-9. Hood then cut the Lions lead down to 14-13 and forced a Lions timeout, but Albright responded by winning four of the next five points to go up 18-14. The Lions then took full control of the fourth set by going up 22-16, and closed out the set by taking three of the next four points. In the deciding fifth set, the Lions took a 5-0 lead and forced a Blazers timeout. Hood responded by taking four of the next five points to make it 6-4 which then turned the set into a back and forth affair. Albright held a 9-8 lead and then made the run of the match by taking four straight points to go up 13-8. The Blazers made one last run by winning four of the next five points to make it 14-13, but an attack error gave the Lions a dramatic five-set win.
Hood finished with a .157 hitting percentage compared to Albright at .151 and each team tallied 10 service aces. The Blazers were led by Elena Zinaich, who registered a game-high 20 kills and Payton Belella paced the offense with 41 assists.
The Lions will return to action tomorrow, October 18
th when they will host Ursinus for the annual dig pink match at 7 p.m.
