ST DAVID'S, Pa. – The Albright Lions women's volleyball team battled before ultimately suffering a 3-0 (21-25, 15-25, 16-25) straight-set defeat to Eastern on Wednesday night on the road in MAC Commonwealth play.
With the loss, the Lions drop to 3-3 on the season and 1-2 in MAC Commonwealth play. Meanwhile, the Eagles improve to 13-1 and 3-0 in MAC Commonwealth play as they maintained first place in the conference standings.
First-year
Rhianna Betley led the Lions with a team-high five kills, while seniors
Bryana Chambers and
Damaris Gomez added four kills apiece. First-year
Paola Mejias paced the Lions offense with 16 assists in addition to adding a team-high 10 digs and four aces.
Albright held serve early on against the Eagles as they worked their way out to a 6-4 lead following back-to-back kills from Mejias and Betley. The teams continued to trade points as they lead did not grow above two points until the Eagles went up 16-13. However, the Lions won five of the next six points to take an 18-17 lead thanks to three attack errors from Eastern. With the score knotted at 20 in the first set, the Eagles were able to take five of the next six points behind four kills to survive the first set at 25-21. Eastern started the second set strong as they built a 13-3 lead after scoring nine-straight points. Albright began to climb back into the contest by winning four-straight points to make it a 13-7 deficit, but would get no closer than six points in the rest of the set.
The Lions started strong in the third set as they took a 4-0 lead behind three-straight aces from Mejias. Albright worked their lead up to 7-2 before Eastern struck back by winning seven of the next nine points to tie the third set at nine. After Albright took a 10-9 lead, the Eagles won six of the next seven points to take a 15-11 lead. A pair of errors from Eastern brought the Lions within two points at 15-13, but Eastern took control of the set by winning six-straight points to take a 21-13 advantage. Albright pulled within seven points at 23-16 before the Eagles closed the match with back-to-back points.
Rachel Curran led the Eagles with a game-high 13 kills and a .367 hitting percentage, while Jailene Lugo and Logan Martin added nine kills apiece. Ashley Thorsted paced the Eagles offense with 38 assists.
Albright will return to action on Saturday, October 2nd as they will compete in the Wilkes tri-match against the host Colonels at 11 a.m., and CCNY at 1 p.m.
