GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Albright Lions volleyball team suffered a straight set loss (16-25, 14-25, 11-25) to Messiah on Thursday night in MAC Commonwealth play.
With the loss, the Lions drop to 5-11 overall and 1-7 in MAC Commonwealth play as they conclude their 2021 regular season. Meanwhile, the Falcons improve to 19-8 overall and 6-2 in conference action.
A trio of Lions posted a team-high four kills in the contest. Senior
Bryana Chambers posted her four on six hits to tally a .667 hitting percentage. First-years
Carly Bono and
Sophie Hampton were the other Lions with four kills, while classmate
Paola Mejias paced the offense with 10 assists. Senior
Kaitlyn Chell led the defense with 10 digs.
Albright took advantage of five Falcons attack errors early in the first set as they took a 6-3 advantage. Messiah responded by winning seven of the next nine points to go up 10-8 in the first set. Following a kill from junior
Grace Andrefski, Messiah won six of the next eight points to take a 16-11 lead. Albright cut the Falcons lead down to three at 17-14 before Messiah closed the set out by winning eight of the next 10 points.
Messiah came out on fire in the third set as they took an 11-1 lead behind four kills and taking advantage of five Lions errors. Albright won five of the next six points to cut the deficit down to 12-6, but the Falcons responded by winning nine of the next 11 points to make it a 21-8 contest in the third set. Messiah closed the set and the match by taking four of the next six points.
Cedar Crest came out on fire in the third set as they won the first nine points behind four kills and three aces. Albright ended the run by taking five of the next six points to cut the deficit down to five at 10-5. However, the Falcons responded by winning 10 of the next 11 points to take command of the set at 20-6 behind four kills and four aces. The Lions won three of the next four points to make it a 21-10 game in the third set before Cedar Crest closed the match out by winning four of the next five points.
The Falcons hit .349 as a team in the three sets and Mackenzie Feight posted a team-high 12 kills. Chayney Barnhart added 10 kills and a team-high .692 hitting percentage while Rachel Rashford posted nine kills. Kristen Seibert paced the Falcons offense with a game-high 24 assists.
