WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Thanks to a combined 65 kills by freshmen Shelby Gear (Rochester, N.Y./Gates-Chili), Lacey Sollenberger (New Enterprize, Pa./North Bedford) and Tanya DeWalt (Mainesburg, Pa./Mansfield), the Lycoming College volleyball team posted a pair of wins to open the Tip-Off Classic at Lamade Gymnasium on Friday evening, Oct. 8, beating the City College of New York, 3-1 (15-25, 25-20, 26-24, 25-13), in the opener before securing a spot in the tournament championship with a 3-2 (14-25, 25-22, 20-25, 25-20, 15-10) win over Hartwick in the nightcap.

The Warriors wrap up the round robin portion of the Tip-Off Classic on Saturday at 10 a.m. by facing Misericordia, who beat both Hartwick and CCNY, 3-0, on Friday evening and Hartwick and CCNY will play on the second court. The Warriors will also face the Cougars in the tournament championship at 12 p.m. as both teams are 2-0, while Hartwick and CCNY will meet in the consolation match.

Sollenberger posted 24 kills on the night to lead the Warriors (9-10 overall), posting 10 against CCNY (9-12 overall) and 14 against Hartwick (4-18 overall). DeWalt posted 23 kills and 10 blocks and Gear added 18 kills and five blocks in the pair of matches.

Against CCNY, all three in the trio posted 10 kills, with DeWalt leading the way with 12 kills. Freshman Katelyn McKillop (Mount Pocono, Pa./Pocono Mountain West) also had a superb effort, posting 41 assists and nine digs.

Senior Kelly Rose (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Bishop Hoban) posted nine kills and junior Emily Abel (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) added 15 digs and an ace. Freshman Shaina Preiss (East Hampton, N.Y./East Hampton) added two aces and five digs and senior Megan Schulze (Reedsville, Pa./Indian Valley) added four kills and seven digs.

The Beavers were led by eight kills a piece from Melissa Blass and Dalliana Toussaint. Alexis Kinsman added 28 assists and four aces and Ruth Reyes posted seven kills and 11 digs. Blass also added four blocks.

After the first set loss, the Warriors took control of the second set with a 9-3 run midway through the set to take control of the match. In the third set, the Warriors warded off a set point with a kill from DeWalt before a kill by Gear helped give them the lead en route to the 26-24 win. In the fourth set, the Warriors took a 22-8 lead en route to the win thanks to a hefty .346 hitting percentage in the set.

Sollenberger led the Warriors to the comeback win over the Hawks, as they rebounded from a 2-1 deficit to take the 3-2 win. Sollenberger finished with 14 kills and DeWalt added 11 kills and five blocks. Schulze added nine kills, 11 digs, four blocks and three aces. Gear posted eight kills, three blocks and an ace.

McKillop added 41 assists, seven digs, two aces and four kills and Abel notched 14 digs, four assists and two aces. Freshman Kassidy Sedore (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Spackenkill) added 10 digs.

The Hawks were led by Courtney Desmond, who posted 16 kills and four blocks and Kelly Sprengel, who added 11 kills and 10 digs. Britney Litner added 19 assists and five digs and Lauren Mausert posted eight kills and 14 digs. Brianna Eckert posted four aces and nine digs.

The Warriors made a solid comeback in the fourth set to start the rally, overcoming an 8-4 deficit to tie the match 12 before kills from Sollenberger and McKillop helped the Warriors take a 14-12 lead. The teams fought back to a tie at 19, but the Warriors won five of the last six points in the set, with Schulze posting a kill and an ace and Rose posting two kills during the run.

In the fifth set, the two teams fought to a tie at eight before a Hawks’ attack error and a kill by DeWalt helped the Warriors take the lead for good. Two kills from Sollenberger and the last of Gear’s four kills in the fifth set helped the Warriors clinch the set with a closing 7-2 run.