WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – The Delaware Valley women's volleyball team lost in a quick three sets to Lycoming, but battled their way back to victory in a down-to-the-wire five-set thriller against Albright.
 
MATCH ONE VS. LYCOMING (0-3)
Set One: 20-25
Set Two: 20-25
Set Three: 15-25
The Aggies held the kill advantage through both set one (12-11) and two (11-10), but gave up crucial points in errors to drop the first two sets by a margin of five each. Despite an early three-point lead in the first set, the Aggies quickly fell behind by 10, 17-7. DelVal responded with a 13-16 run, tallying 11 kills, to close the gap to three, 23-20. The Warriors secured the final two points to take the set.
 
The Aggies held the advantage through the opening rallies of the second set using four kills and three services aces to build up a four-point lead, 11-7. The Warriors answered back with a 6-1 run to take a single-point lead. 13-12. The lead changed hands twice more leaving the Aggies in chase tying the score four times, but unable to come out on top. Lycoming finished out the set on a 7-2 run for the win, 25-20.
 
The teams traded points until an 11-1 run from the Warriors created a 16-6 lead. DelVal brought the gap down to eight, but Lycoming held the 5-3 edge to take the set, 25-15.
 
MATCH TWO VS. ALBRIGHT (0-3)
Set One: 19-25
Set Two: 25-22
Set Three: 25-22
Set Four: 17-25
Set Five: 16-14
 
Despite an early 8-3 run led by Cassandra Gloster with three kills, the Aggies' five-point lead, 11-6, was quickly stuffed with a 14-6 run by Albright for the lead 20-17. The Lions held DelVal to just two more points in the set taking the 25-19 win.
 
The teams knotted the score five times before an 8-1 run from Albright created a seven-point gap, 15-8. Three kills from Gloster contributed to the Aggies' 6-1 response, closing the deficit to two, 16-14. The Lions answered with a small 3-0 spurt, but DelVal used an 11-3 edge to take the set, 25-22.
 
A service ace from Madsion Alexander opened the third set and set the pace for an early 7-1 run for the Aggies. The Lions attempted to comeback but wouldn't get closer than one point. DelVal outperformed the Lions 16-14 to finish the set, 25-25. Alexander, Monique Smith and Shanna Graham tallied eight total kills in the final run while Ariana Hernandez and Cassandra Gloster recorded one apiece.
 
Albright capitalized on an early 11-4 run to maintain a decent lead not allowing DelVal to get any closer than six points until a kill from Smith prompted a small 4-0 spurt to close the gap to four, 21-17. The scoring ended there for the Aggies as the Lions secured to final four points of the set to send the match into five.
 
The final set was a true back-and-forth battle with neither team able to put together a solid run until a kill from Graham sparked a 5-1 spurt for the Aggies to put them in the lead, 11-8. The Lions retaliated with a 6-2 comeback to take the single-point lead, 14-13, and put themselves in position to secure the match point. But, a kill from Smith was paired with a service ace from Alyssa Fink to put the Aggies ahead, 15-14. Smith sealed the deal with her 22^nd kill of the game to hand the Aggies the win, 16-14.
 
DelVal returns to action on Wednesday, Sep, 24 for their conference opener at King's (Pa.) at 7 p.m.