READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions women's volleyball team wrapped up their 2019 season with a thrilling five-set victory (27-29, 25-22, 24-26, 30-28, 15-10) over Alvernia on Thursday night in MAC Commonwealth play.
With the win, the Lions will finish the year at 10-10 overall, their first season at a .500 record or better since 2009. Albright will also finish their MAC Commonwealth slate at 2-6. Meanwhile, the Golden Wolves fall to 3-14 overall and 1-7 in conference play.
First-year
Grace Andrefski registered a career-high 17 kills behind a .286 hitting percentage, and four blocks. Junior
Brooke Franklin added 10 kills along with five digs, while sophomore
Grace Serafin posted nine kills and a team-high 27 digs. First-year libero
Shelby Cheuvront added 26 digs, while junior
Alexa Poss paced the offense by registering a career-high 47 assists. The 47 assists were the most in a match by a Lion since Morgan Heath tallied 48 against Lycoming in 2013.
Alvernia opened the match with a kill before the Lions ran off five-straight points to take a 5-1 lead behind multiple errors from the Golden Wolves. The Lions were able to work their lead out to 10-4, and eventually went up 12-7 following a service error. However, the Golden Wolves won six of the next seven points to tie the score at 13. Albright came back by winning four of the next five points to go up 17-14. Alvernia reeled off five-straight points to go up 19-17 behind four kills, but the Lions responded again by taking five of the next six points to go up 22-20. Each team tallied back-to-back points to leave Albright at set point. However, a kill and ace tied the set at 24 to force extra points. The lead changed hands four times and tied three times before the Golden Wolves pulled the first set out at 29-27. Alvernia opened the second set by winning the first two points, but the Lions reeled off six unanswered points to go up 6-2. Alvernia moved within one point of the Lions after winning three-straight points before Albright responded with four-straight points to go back up 10-5. Following back-to-back Alvernia points, the Lions won four-straight points to go up 14-7. Albright extended its lead out to 18-9 and forced a Golden Wolves timeout, but Alvernia began making a rally after the stoppage. The Golden Wolves took six of the next eight points to cut the Lions advantage down to 20-15, and eventually worked it down to 21-18. Following a kill from Andrefski, the Golden Wolves ran off four-straight points to tie the second set at 22. Albright shut down the comeback by winning the final three points to take set two at 25-22.
The Golden Wolves started strong by jumping out to an early 4-1 lead in the third set before Albright won four-straight points to go up 5-4. The Lions held a 7-6 lead following back and forth action, but the Golden Wolves won five-straight points to go up 11-7. Albright struck back by taking six of the next eight points to tie the third set at 13, and eventually took a 15-14 lead. The third set then went through seven lead changes and seven ties to leave the Golden Wolves up 23-21. The Lions responded by tallying three-straight points to go up at set point, 24-23. Much like the first set, Albright was unable to seal the set win as Alvernia stole the third set by taking the last three points. The Lions took an early 3-1 lead in the fourth set, and the Golden Wolves responded by taking three of the next four points to tie the score at four. Albright won four of the next five points to take an 8-5 lead, and eventually worked its way out to an 11-7 lead. Down 14-10, Alvernia took five of the next six points to tie the score up at 15. The Lions won four of the next six points to go up 19-17, but the Golden Wolves came strong out of a timeout with five-straight points to go up 22-19. However, the Lions won four of the next five points to battle back and tie the score at 23. Alvernia reached set point at 24-23, but Albright forced extra points for a third time in the match following an attack error. Four lead changes later, the Golden Wolves found themselves on set point again at 28-27, but Albright took advantage of three-straight attack errors to win the fourth set.
Albright jumped out to quick 4-0 lead in the fifth and deciding set, and eventually made it an 8-3 game by going on a run of winning four of the next five points. Two Golden Wolve attack errors put the Lions up 10-4, but Alvernia did not go away quietly as they won six of the next eight points to make it a 12-10 game. Albright ended the rally by taking the final three points to win the mat, capped by an ace from Poss.
Olivia Frutiger led Alvernia with 17 kills and added 16 digs. Paige Stern recorded 15 kills, while libero Gabrielle DeLucca led the Golden Wolves with a game-high 30 digs.
