WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – The Albright women's volleyball team nearly forced a winner-take-all fifth set, but a late rally from Lycoming lifted the Warriors to a 3-1 (25-14, 20-25, 25-11, 25-23) win over the Lions in MAC Commonwealth play on Tuesday night.
 
With the loss, the Lions drop to 6-6 overall and 0-4 in MAC Commonwealth play. Meanwhile, the Warriors improve to 11-8 overall and 4-1 in conference play.
 
Freshman Grace Andrefski led the Lions with a team-high eight kills on 15 attacks to tally a .400 hitting percentage. Junior Kaitlyn Chell followed with seven kills and 12 digs, and classmate Paige Westra added six kills, 11 digs, and three aces. Freshman Shelby Cheuvront posted 11 digs, while junior Alexa Poss paced the offense with 24 assists.
 
The Warriors got off to a hot start as they jumped out to a 6-1 lead early in the first set. Lycoming continued to maintain a sizable margin as they made it a 12-4 game, but the Lions rallied to make it a 13-10 deficit after taking six of the next seven points. Lycoming responded by winning three of the next four points before Albright won back-to-back points to make it a 17-13 game. However, the Warriors would win eight of the last nine points to take set one at 25-14. It was the Lions then that got out to a hot start to begin a set as they went up 6-1 in set two behind four kills. Albright would stretch its lead out to 9-3 before the Warriors won seven of the next eight points to tie the set at 10. The teams traded points to leave the score tied at 12 before the Lions rattled off four-straight points to take a 16-12 lead. The Warriors tied the set again at 18, but the Lions won four of the next five points to go up 23-19. Lycoming won the next point to make it 23-20 to keep hope alive until the Lions closed out the second set with back-to-back points off Warrior attack errors.
 
Both teams traded points to open the third set which left the Warriors up 5-4 early on. Lycoming then took four-straight points to go up 9-4 before jumping out to a 15-7 advantage. After a kill from Andrefski made it 16-9, the Warriors closed the set by taking nine of the last 11 points to win 25-11. The key run was a seven unanswered point stretch to initially go up 23-9. With their backs against the wall, the Lions started strong in the fourth set as they went out to a 12-3 lead. Following a timeout, the Warriors began to claw back in the set as they won five-straight points to start before extending the run out by taking 12 of the next 13 points to cut the Albright lead down to 13-12. Lycoming tied the set at 14 for the first time since it was 1-1, and took their first lead of the fourth set at 17-15. The Warriors continued momentum as they stretched their lead out to 20-16, but four-straight points from the Lions made it a 20-20 game. Sophomore Grace Serafin came up huge with a kill and service ace to put the Lions up 22-21, and force a Lycoming timeout. Unfortunately for the Lions, Lycoming took three of the final four points to take the fourth and deciding set at 25-23.
 
Alysa McDevitt led the Warriors with a game-high 14 kills and a .571 hitting percentage, while Lily Singleton added 11. Emily Morris paced the Lycoming offense with 36 assists.
 
The Lions will return to action on Thursday, October 3^rd when they will travel to face Ursinus at 7 p.m. in non-conference action.