CAMDEN, N.J. – The Albright Lions women volleyball team split in the Rutgers-Camden tri-match on Saturday afternoon. Albright defeated Penn State Abington in straight sets (25-14, 25-20, 25-16) before falling in straight sets to host Rutgers-Camden.
With the split the Lions record sits at 6-8 overall as they have doubled their win total from last season. Meanwhile, the Raptors picked up two wins to move to 5-10 and the Nittany Lions fall to 3-16 overall after dropping both games on the day.
Freshman
Grace Serafin totaled 14 kills and eight digs through the two games with a season-high nine kills coming against Penn State Abington. Sophomore
Bryana Chambers followed with 12 kills and two blocks through two games with seven kills coming against Penn State Abington. Sophomore
Liz Bacovin finished with 10 total kills on the day, while classmate
Kaitlyn Chell added nine kills in the two games along with 24 total digs. Sophomore
Alexa Poss paced the Lions offense with 44 total assists in the two games and added 16 digs. Senior
Becca Davis finished the day leading the defense with 42 total digs with 26 coming against Penn State Abington.
The Lions started the day against Penn State Abington and came out of the gates hot by building a 7-2 lead in the first set. The Nittany Lions kept it close by rallying to make it a two-point game on three occasions with the last when Albright was up 13-11. The Lions then won five of the next six points to go up 18-12 before taking seven of the last nine points to close out the first set at 25-14. It was the Nittany Lions that took an early lead at 6-3 in the second set before Albright climbed back in to tie the set at eight. Down 10-9, the Lions ran off three straight points to go up 12-10 that was capped by a service ace from Poss. Albright would then score five-straight points to go up 17-11 before extending its lead to 21-14. The Nittany Lions made a run by winning five of the next six points to cut the Albright lead down to 22-19. Following a timeout, the Lions closed the set out by winning three of the last four points that was capped by a kill from sophomore
Micah Taylor.
Penn State Abington went quickly up 3-0 in the third set before the Lions closed back by winning six of the next seven points to take a 6-4 lead. Three-straight kills would then put the Lions up 9-5 and Albright would extend its lead to 13-8. The Lions went up 16-10 and Penn State Abington made one last charge to cut the lead down to 16-13. From there, Albright was able to keep the lead above three points the rest of the way as they closed the game out by winning nine of the last 12 points. Albright hit .202 for the game and held the Nittany Lions to a .029 hitting percentage.
Against Rutgers-Camden, the Lions fell behind to the Raptors early in the first set at 6-3. Rutgers-Camden extended its lead to 10-5 and would not let the Lions get under three points for the rest of the first set. The Raptors used a run of taking 11 of 13 points to take its biggest lead of the set at 22-10. Albright won four of the next five points before the Raptors closed the set out. Albright started the second set out by winning the first three points before going up 7-3. The Lions then went up 10-4 before the Raptors stormed back by winning six of the next eight points to cut the Albright lead to 12-10. Albright used back-to-back kills from Chell and Taylor to go up 14-10, but then the Raptors won 10 of the next 11 points to turn the tide of the set. Albright made it a 21-18 game before the Raptors closed the second set out with four-straight points. The third set saw small runs from both teams as the Lions worked back from a four-point deficit to take a 14-12 lead. Albright went up 17-16 before the Raptors won six of the next seven points to go up 22-18. Chambers brought the Lions back with three kills to cut the Raptors lead down to 23-22, but Rutgers-Camden used two kills to close out the win.
The Lions will return to action on Wednesday, October 3
rd when they will travel to face Lebanon Valley in MAC Commonwealth play at 7 p.m.
