READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions women's volleyball team won its first two sets en route to earning a 3-1 (32-30, 25-22, 17-25, 25-14) road win over Penn State Berks on Monday night in non-conference action.
 
With the win, the Lions improve to 5-3 overall as they pick up their first win over Penn State Berks for the first time since 2009. Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions drop to 4-8 overall.
 
Sophomore Damaris Gomez led the way with a game-high 18 kills in addition to picking up a season-high 16 digs. Classmate Kaitlyn Chell followed with nine kills and 17 digs, while Bryana Chambers added seven kills and three blocks. Senior Becca Davis anchored the defense with 23 digs and sophomore Alexa Poss paced the offense with a season-high 31 assists.
 
Albright started hot in the first set as they jumped out to an early 4-1 lead behind four kills from four different players. The Nittany Lions battled back to win seven of the next eight points to take an 8-5 lead, and eventual brought the advantage out to 10-7. Albright then countered with six-straight points to go up 13-10 and force a Berks timeout. A kill from Chell would put the Lions up 16-12 a few points later before Berks fought back by winning five of the next six points to cut the lead down to 17-16. Albright eventually jumped up to a 22-18 lead, but the Nittany Lions again came back with four straight points to tie the set at 22. The Lions sat one point away from taking the set up 24-23 until an attack error forced extra points. The teams went back and forth for the next points to keep the dramatic set going, and leave the Nittany Lions up 30-29. Albright would then win the final three points to take the set at 32-30.
 
The back and forth action continued into the second set as the teams exchanged the lead six times to leave the score tied at 10. Albright won the next three points to go up 13-10 which broke the largest lead staying at two points or less to start the set. The Lions then worked the lead up to four points at 15-11 and eventually 18-14 later in the set. With Albright up 20-15, the Nittany Lions countered with four-straight points to cut Albright's lead at 20-19. Berks then took a 22-21 lead, but Albright closed out the set with four-straight points behind three attack errors from the Nittany Lions to go up two sets.
 
Berks took advantage of Lion mistakes to jump out to a 7-2 lead in the third set to force an Albright timeout. The Nittany Lions would continue to maintain a lead as the set went along as they went up as many as six points at 15-9 early on. Albright would get within three points twice in the set with the latest being at 18-15, but Berks would win seven of the last nine points to take the set at 25-17. Albright finished the set with 12 errors while Berks only had five. Despite the setback, Albright came out red hot in the fourth set as they won the first seven points before going up 10-2. The Lions would maintain a sizable advantage throughout the fourth set as they would not allow Berks to get within less than five points for the rest of the set. Up 17-11, the Lions won the next seven points behind six kills before tallying the last point on a service error.
 
The Lions tallied a season-high 46 kills and posted a .103 hitting percentage that was fueled by a .407 hitting percentage in the fourth set. Albright held Berks to a .057 hitting percentage and overcame seven aces from the Nittany Lions. Berks was led by Abbie Carr and Maddy Kessler, who each had 10 kills.
 
Albright will return to action on Wednesday, September 17^th when they will travel to face Widener in MAC Commonwealth play at 7 p.m.