READING, Pa. – Behind a furious rally in the third set, the Albright Lions volleyball team completed a 3-0 straight-set sweep of Cairn (25-16, 25-21, 26-24) on Monday night at the Bollman Center in non-conference action.
 
With the win, the Lions improve to 5-4 overall on the season. Meanwhile, the Highlanders of the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) fall to 2-11 overall.
 
Senior Damaris Gomez led all players on the floor with a game-high eight kills and posted three digs. First-year Sophie Hampton was one of three Lions that posted five kills along with senior Brooke Franklin and first-year Rhianna Betley. Senior Bryana Chambers added three kills and a career-high four aces while classmate Kaitlyn Chell led all Lions with 13 digs. First-year Paola Mejias paced the Lions offense with 29 assists along with adding 12 digs and three kills.
 
Cairn opened the match by winning the first three points with the first two coming from aces. The Lions responded to the rough start by taking five of the next six points to go up 5-4. The Highlanders went back up 8-6 before the Lions took six of the next seven points to put them up 11-8. Albright was able to build its lead up to 16-11 following a kill from Hampton and only allowed the Highlanders to get as close as three points in the rest of the set. The Lions closed out the first set by winning eight of the final 10 points after the Highlanders cut the lead down to 17-14. Albright hit .375 as a team in the first set.
 
Albright started strong in the second set as they jumped out to a 6-2 lead after taking advantage of three errors from the Highlanders. However, Cairn was able to rally by winning five of the next six points to tie the set at seven. Albright was able to take the lead back at 10-9 until the Highlanders rallied again with three-straight points to go up 12-10. The game tied up twice at 12 and 14 before Cairn won four-straight points to take an 18-14 advantage. The Lions battled back from the deficit to win the second set at 25-21 after winning 11 of the last 14 points. The key moment in the rally for Albright came when Chambers recorded four-straight aces after Cairn took the lead back at 20-19.
 
The Lions took advantage of a pair of errors from the Highlanders to go up 3-1 early in the third set, but Cairn went on a long run by winning 12 of the next 13 points to take a commanding 13-4 lead. Seven of the Highlanders 12 points came from Lion errors and two of the points came from aces. The Lions won three of the next four points to cut the Cairn lead down to 14-7. The Highlanders seemed the slam the door on the Lions with five-straight points to go up 19-7 and looked to easily force a fourth set. However, the Lions began to rally by winning eight of the next nine points to make it a 20-15 contest. Albright continued the run following a point from Cairn as they won seven of the next eight points to dramatically tie the set at 22. The Lions responded to a Highlanders kill by taking back-to-back points and create a match point at 24-23. A slip from Betley as she began to go for an attack allowed the Highlanders to tie the score at 24, but the Lions were able to complete the comeback and sweep by winning the final two points.
Cairn was led by Peyton Queen who posted a team-high seven kills and 10 digs, and Allison Barnes recorded five aces, four kills, and six digs.
 
Albright will return to action on Wednesday, October 6th as they will host York in MAC Commonwealth play at 7 p.m.