COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Albright Lions volleyball team dropped a straight-set (19-25, 14-25, 20-25) contest to Ursinus on Thursday night in non-conference action.
 
With the loss, the Lions drop to 6-7 overall. Meanwhile, the Bears of the Centennial Conference improve to 6-11 overall.
 
Junior Alexa Poss led the Lions with a team-high five kills and nine assists. Juniors Liz Bacovin and Brooke Franklin each tallied four kills with Bacovin adding three digs. First-year Grace Andrefski posted three kills, and classmate Shelby Cheuvront posted a team-high 16 digs and three aces.
 
The Lions started strong in the first set as they went up 4-1 following a pair of kills from Bacovin and Poss. Each team then went on runs of four-straight points to leave the Lions up 8-5, but the Bears then recorded six-straight points to take an 11-8 lead. Albright closed within one point at 12-11 before Ursinus took five of the next six points to go up 17-12. The Lions attempted a rally as they got within three points at 19-16, but the Bears took five of the next six points to put the set away.
 
Each team traded back and forth points to open the second set which eventually left the Bears up one point at 6-5. The Lions responded by taking five-straight points to go up 10-6 behind a trio of errors and a pair of kills from Franklin. Ursinus struck back by taking four of the next five points to make it an 11-10 game, and took control of the set by taking seven-straight points to go up 17-12. The Lions came back with back-to-back points off Bears ball handling errors, but Ursinus won the last eight points to take a two-set lead. Ursinus started strong in the third set as they quickly went up 5-1 behind four kills and one ace. A trio of errors from the Bears made it a 5-4 game, but Ursinus shut down any momentum by taking seven of the next eight points to take a 12-5 lead. Albright took the next three points off errors to cut the lead down to 12-8 before Ursinus pulled away again by taking eight of the next nine points to go up 20-9. The Lions began making a late charge as they won five-straight points to cut the Bears down to 20-14, and took another three points after two-straight points from the Bears to make it 22-17. Albright then got within four points at 24-20, but Ursinus hammered one last kill to conclude the set and match.
 
Kelly Piotrowicz and Rachel Girard led the Bears with seven kills apiece and nine assists. Piotrowicz also led the Bears with 17 digs, while Luca Walborn posted five aces.
 
The Lions will return to action on Saturday, October 5^th as they will host Immaculata in non-conference action at 10:30 a.m.