WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – After fighting through 19 ties and 10 lead changes in the first four sets of Thursday night, Sept. 17's match against Mount Aloysius, the Lycoming College volleyball team cruised through the fifth set, scoring the first 13 points en route to the 3-2 win (21-25, 25-21, 20-25, 25-23, 15-2).
 
Junior Lauren Fink (York, Pa./West York) held serve for the first 13 points of the set, posting one ace, while senior Bethany Richardson (York, Pa./West York) propelled the run with three kills and two blocks. After finally breaking the run, the Mounties (2-4 overall) scored two points, but the Warriors (7-3 overall) responded with kills from sophomore Catherine Burger (Royersford, Pa./Spring-Ford) and junior Tayler Whitman (New Cumberland, Pa./Cedar Cliff) ended the match.
 
The Warriors took a 10-6 lead in the first set, but Mount Aloysius responded with six straight points to start a 14-4 run that helped it to a 25-21 win. Lycoming jumped out to an 11-3 run in the second set and never let the Mounties back within four points en route to a 25-21 run, as Mount Aloysius scored three of the last four points to close a 24-18 gap.
 
Lycoming again had a large lead in the third set, jumping ahead 10-3, but the Mounties rallied to tie the set at 17 and closed it out on an 8-3 run to win 25-20. In the fourth set, the two teams battled through eight ties, but an ace from freshman Emily Hepner (Leesport, Pa./Schuylkill Valley) broke a tie at 17 and the Warriors didn't relinquish the lead again in the 25-23 win, setting up the fifth set.
 
Richardson led the Warriors with 16 kills, hitting .364, and adding two blocks and five digs. Freshman Cheyenne Altland (East Berlin, Pa./Delone Catholic) added 13 kills and hit .357. Fink notched a double-double with 10 kills, 13 digs and three aces and both juniors Kristine Jahn (Enola, Pa./Cumberland Valley) and Whitman each added nine kills, with Whitman also posting four aces.
 
Burger finished with 46 assists, six digs, five kills and two blocks and Hepner led the team with 14 digs. Freshman Kyra Beltrandi (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) also added 11 digs.
 
The Mounties were led by 13 kills and 15 digs from Lindsay Mercer and 12 kills from Elizabeth Yacobucci. Brenna Wright added 16 digs and Jordan DeMasi posted 21 assists and 11 digs. Kristin Miles also added eight kills and six blocks.
 
The Warriors get back in action on Saturday, Sept. 19, when they face Allegheny and Marymount (Va.) at Allegheny College. The match with Allegheny is at 11 a.m. and Marymount at 1 p.m.