CLARKS SUMMIT, Pa. – Senior Bethany Richardson (York, Pa./West York) led the Lycoming College volleyball team with 31 kills, becoming the eighth player in school history to top 1,000 kills in a career, to lead the team to a sweep of a tri-match at Summit University, downing Summit, 3-0, Penn College, 3-0 and Wilkes, 3-1, on Saturday, Sept. 5.
 
Richardson led the Warriors in kills in all three matches, posting seven against Summit to cross 1,000 kills before notching 10 against Penn College and finishing with 14 against Wilkes to give her 1,025 in her career, just 16 shy of Jackie Moore's seventh-best mark of 1,041 set from 1997-00.
 
Richardson surpassed the kills mark in the first match against Summit, finishing the match with 1,0001 after the quick 3-0 (25-7, 25-21, 25-12) win during the morning session. Meanwhile, junior Lauren Fink (York, Pa./West York) destroyed the school record with 12 service aces, surpassing the mark of nine that Seneca Reilly set three times in 2001-02.
 
Fink started the match on serve and notched 13 straight points, notching five aces during the run and pacing the Warriors to a 25-7 win. In the second set, the Warriors jumped out to a 7-0 lead and expanded the lead to as large as 21-11 before Summit rolled off nine straight points to close within a point. The Warriors closed out the set on a 4-1 run, though to seal the win. In the third set, the Warriors again got out to a large lead, taking an 8-0 lead and expanded it to as many as 18-6 before closing the set out for a 25-12 win.
 
Sophomore Catherine Burger (Royersford, Pa./Spring-Ford) notched 14 assists and freshman Emily Hepner (Leesport, Pa./Schuylkill Valley) added seven digs.
 
Jacklyn Simpson led the Defenders with seven kills and five digs and Samantha Snow posted nine assists.
 
The team put together a similar performance in its other morning match, sweeping Penn College, 25-9, 25-10, 25-14, as Richardson posted 10 kills, three blocks and hit .562.
 
Juniors Maggie Slawson (Armagh, Pa./United), Kristine Jahn (Enola, Pa./Cumberland Valley) and Tayler Whitman (New Cumberland, Pa./Cedar Cliff) each added five kills and Burger posted 19 assists, five aces and seven digs. Hepner led the team with 18 digs.
 
In the first two sets of the match, Lycoming jumped out to big leads, reaching 20 points before Penn College reached 10 in each case. In the final set, the Warriors came back from being down, 7-4, finishing the set on a 14-4 run to seal the win.
 
Felicia Webber led the Wildcats (1-5 overall) notched four kills and nine digs and Sophie Coldsmith added seven assists, nine digs and a block. The Wildcats had just eight kills in the match and Lycoming, thanks to 47 digs and four blocks, held the Wildcats to a -.154 hitting percentage.
 
Richardson again led the Warriors to the win over Wilkes (3-2 overall), posting 14 kills, three blocks and hitting .323, while Jahn added eight kills and hit .538, to pace the team to a 3-1 (25-16, 25-21, 22-25, 25-20) win.
 
Burger finished with her first double-double of the year, notching 39 assists and 13 digs and Fink flirted with a triple-double, notching eight kills, seven assists and 14 digs. Hepner led the team with 16 digs and freshman Kyra Beltrandi (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) finished with 10 digs. Slawson also added five kills and nine digs.
 
Down 12-11 in the first set, the Warriors closed the set on a 13-5 run which Fink sparked when she served up six straight points, a run that didn't include an ace. In the second set, Wilkes took a 12-9 lead and tied the set at 18, but a block by Burger helped spur the team on a 7-3 run to close out the set.
 
In the third set, Wilkes took a 15-8 lead, but the Warriors fought back to take a 20-18 lead after an ace from Burger. The Colonels closed out the set, though, with a 7-2 run. Lycoming closed the match out in the fourth set, though, taking an 15-8 lead and withstanding a rally that brought Wilkes within two at 19-17. After that, the Warriors closed out the set on a 6-3 run, with Slawson notching a kill to close out the tri-match sweep.
 
Madison Scarfaro led the Colonels with 11 kills, Megan Powers added 33 assists and two aces and Danica Benson notched 25 digs. Ellen Mook posted nine kills and two blocks.
 
The Warriors get back on the court on Friday, Sept. 11, when they host the six-team Lycoming Invitational in Lamade Gym, hosting York (Pa.) at 4 p.m. and Elizabethtown at 8 p.m.