CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. – The Albright Lions women's volleyball team dropped a pair of matches on Saturday afternoon at the Wilson Tri-Match. The Lions fell 3-0 to Wilson before suffering another straight-set defeat to Wilkes.
 
With the losses, the Lions drop to 2-2 overall on the season as they begin MAC Commonwealth play next week. Meanwhile, the Phoenix improve to 3-4 and the Colonels improve to 3-4 as well.
 
Between the two games, junior Kaitlyn Chell led the Lions with a combined 11 kills with seven of them coming against Wilson. She also posted 13 digs on the day with nine of them against Wilson. Freshman Grace Andrefski led the Lions against Wilkes with seven kills, while junior Paige Westra added five. Junior Alexa Poss paced the offense with 33 combined assists through the two games with 17 of them coming against Wilkes.
 
The Lions opened the match against Wilson with a strong start as they went up 4-1 after a service ace from Westra. However, the Phoenix would strike back by winning 10 of the next 12 points to take an 11-6 lead in the first set. Albright won the next two points before the Phoenix reeled off six-straight points to go up 17-8. The Lions would only get within nine of the Phoenix during the rest of the first set as Wilson closed the match out by winning four-straight points. Albright held a 3-2 advantage early in the second set, but the Phoenix would go on another run with seven-straight points to go up 9-3. The Lions moved within five points at 12-7 before Wilson used a run of four-straight points to go up 16-7. The Phoenix would continue the run and go up 20-8 before closing the second set out at 25-13. Wilson would open the third set with a quick four points to go up 4-0, and the Lions came back with three-straight points to make it 4-3. The Lions would work back ahead at 6-5 after a kill from junior Bryana Chambers, but five-straight points from the Phoenix put them back up 10-5. The Lions would get back within two points at 11-9 and at 13-11, but would be unable to sustain momentum. Albright would get no closer the rest of the third set than two points as the Phoenix completed the three-set win with a 25-20 decision.
 
Against the Colonels, the teams would trade points early in the first set as the score sat tied at four. The Colonels would then get four-straight points to go up 8-4 before then continuing the run and going up 12-5. The Lions would get within no more than five points the rest of the first set as the Colonels took the first set at 25-16. Following an ace from the Lions to open the second set, Wilkes took the next four points to go up 4-1. The Lions would win four of the next five points to knot the second set up at five, but Wilkes struck back with three-straight points to go back up 8-5. Albright would get back to within one point at 10-9, but were unable to sustain momentum as the Colonels would win three-straight points to go back up 13-9. Wilkes continued to stretch their lead out at 21-12 before winning the last three points to take set two by a score of 25-14. In set three, the Colonels started hot and took a quick 6-1 lead to open the set up. Wilkes then would go up 10-3 and maintain a sizable edge on the Lions throughout the third set. The Lions would not get within more than six points during the rest of the set as Wilkes took the final set 25-14.
 
The Lions will return to action on Wednesday, September 11^th as they open MAC Commonwealth play by hosting Stevenson at 7 p.m.