READING, Pa. – Despite a valiant effort, the Albright Lions women's volleyball team suffered a 3-1 (18-25, 26-24, 25-17, 20-25, 18-25) defeat to Widener in MAC Commonwealth play on Wednesday night in the Bollman Center.
 
With the loss, the Lions drop to 4-5 on the season and 0-3 in MAC Commonwealth play. Meanwhile, the Pride snap a three-game losing streak to improve to 5-12 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
 
Junior Paige Westra posted a kill/dig double-double as she led the team with a game-high 10 kills and added 16 digs. Junior Kaitlyn Chell posted eight kills and 23 digs, while freshman Grace Andrefski also tallied eight kills plus two blocks. Junior Brooke Franklin added seven kills and sophomore Grace Serafin followed with six kills and 12 digs. Junior Alexa Poss paced the Lions offense with 32 assists, while freshman Shelby Cheuvront registered a team-high 24 digs.
 
The teams would trade the first few points in the first set which left the Pride up 5-4 early on. Widener then took four of the next five points to take a 10-5 lead as they took advantage of three Lion errors. Three-straight kills from Albright would bring within 10-8, and they would continue to keep within striking distance of Widener throughout the first set. However, the Pride would finally take control of the first set after taking eight of the next nine points with the score at 14-12 to go up 22-13. The Lions mounted a small rally by taking three-straight points on set point, but the Pride would close out the set at 25-18. Much like the first set, the second set started with back and forth action that would see the Lions hold an early 6-4 lead. The Pride seemed to start to take control of the set by taking seven of the next eight points to go up 11-7, but the Lions struck back by taking five of the next seven points to make it a one-point game at 13-12. Albright continued the momentum by taking three of the next four points to go up 15-14. Following more back and forth action, the Pride would take a 21-18 lead before the Lions recorded five-straight points to take a 23-21 lead. Widener tallied three-straight points of their own to hit set point, but the resilient Lions forced extra points before taking the set at 26-24 following a kill from Chell.
 
Widener came out strong in the fourth set as they jumped out to a 7-3 lead behind five kills. The Lions would hang around four to five points before making a charge by going on a run of winning four of five points to cut the Pride lead down to two at 15-13. Albright then tallied three-straight points after Pride point to tie the third set at 16-all. However, the Lions could not recover from a Pride run of taking four of five points which put them up 20-17. Albright would not get within less than two points the rest of the way as Widener took a hard-fought third set at 25-20. Widener jumped out to an early 5-2 lead in the fourth set, but the Lions found momentum as they took five of the next six points to take a 7-6 lead. The teams would straight multiple straight-point runs to leave the score knotted at 10 before the Pride would take four of the next five points to go up 14-11. The Lions moved within one point of Widener at 15-14, but five-straight points from the Pride would be the deciding factor to close out the game.
 
Claire Kaufmann led the way for the Pride with a game-high 14 kills, while Carly Venit followed with 10 kills.
 
The Lions return to action on Friday, September 27^th as they will compete in the Rosemont Tri-Match. Albright will face Cheyney at 5 p.m. before taking on the host Ravens at 7 p.m.