WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – A solid hitting evening that included three players with at least nine kills helped propel the Lycoming College volleyball team to a solid 3-1 (25-16, 25-13, 22-25, 25-14) win over Alvernia University in both team's MAC Commonwealth openers on Wednesday night, Sept. 7, in Lamade Gym.
 
Sophomore Cheyenne Altland (East Berlin, Pa./Delone Catholic) led the Warriors (4-1 overall, 1-0 MAC Commonwealth) with 13 kills and three blocks while hitting .400, and senior Lauren Fink (York, Pa./West York) added 11 kills, hitting .409, to go with 12 kills, six aces and three blocks. Senior Tayler Whitman (New Cumberland, Pa./Cedar Cliff) also added nine kills, three blocks and two aces.
  Freshman Alysa McDevitt (Warminster, Pa./Archbishop Wood) added five blocks and five kills and senior Kristine Jahn (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) added five kills and a block. Junior Catherine Burger (Royersford, Pa./Spring-Ford) added 35 assists and three aces and sophomore Emily Hepner (Leesport, Pa./Schuylkill Valley) posted a match-high 21 digs.
 
The Warriors opened up the first set off the serve of Fink, taking an 11-8 lead and expanding it to 16-8. The Warriors continued to pressure, with a kill from Altland taking the lead to 20-9, and a kill from Fink closing the win out, 25-16. The Warriors hit .423 in the stanza with three aces.
 
The Warriors continued to play well in the second set with Whitman providing five kills and Fink four, as they built a 19-9 lead off four service points from Fink and five from Burger. The Warriors closed out the 25-13 win on a sneak attack kill from Burger.
 
The Warriors fell behind 22-18 in the third set, but rallied to tie it at 22. With the score 23-22 in favor of Alvernia (1-4 overall, 0-1 MAC Commonwealth), Abby O'Donnell had a serve hit the top of the net and fall over to help the Crusaders persevere 25-22.
 
The Crusaders stayed close in the fourt set until Burger served up five straight points to take a 17-10 lead. Whitman later added three more to make it 22-13, as Lycoming hit .391 in the 25-14 win. Kristin Sipling posted a match-high 16 kills, but a tough Lycoming defense limited Alvernia to a .133 (40-24-120) hitting percentage in the match.
 
O'Donnell finished with 32 assists and nine digs to lead the Crusaders and Emily Smith added 10 kills and 11 digs.
 
The Warriors get back in action on Friday, Sept. 9, with the first day of the Lycoming Invitational, as they face York (Pa.) at 4 p.m. and Dickinson at 8 p.m. in Lamade Gym.