ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Cedar Crest College volleyball team opened United East Conference play with a 3-1 win over Bryn Athyn College on Tuesday night at Lees Gymnasium.
The Falcons won the match by scores of 25-23, 16-25, 25-14, 25-18.

The first set was tight throughout as the teams split the opening 22 points, 11-11. Cedar Crest then scored five consecutive points, capped off by a service ace by junior Ellise Everett (Orlando, Fla./Lake Nona) to make the score 16-11. The Falcons pushed its margin to six, 21-15, but the Lions responded with a 6-0 run to tie the score at 21. After Bryn Athyn knotted the score at 22, Cedar Crest finished on a 3-1 mini-run to win the set, 25-23.

The Lions began the second set on a 4-1 run, but the Falcons answered with a 7-1 spurt to go up, 8-5, after a service ace from senior Liberty Jackson (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Gilbert (Ariz.)). The lead bounced back-and-forth over the next few points before Bryn Athyn was able to create some separation. The visitors went up 17-15 and closed the frame on an 8-1 run for the 25-16 second set triumph.

Cedar Crest started fast in the third set, going up 9-3 after a 7-0 run, finished off by a kill from senior Akashia Johnson (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore Polytechnic Institute). The Lions made the score 17-11, but the Falcons concluded the set on an 8-3 run to capture the set, 25-14.

The home team jumped out to a 5-2 advantage in the fourth set. Later in the set after a 3-0 run to make the score 17-16 in favor of the Falcons, Cedar Crest went onto finish the stanza on an 8-2 to win the set 25-18 and the match in four sets.

Graduate student Ziah Melton (Allentown, Pa./William Allen), Johnson, and Everett had nine kills apiece to lead the Falcons. L. Jackson had seven kills followed by graduate student Rebekka Sanchez-Castro (Columbia, Md./Atholton) with six, Tianlly Davila (Frederick, Md./Governor Thomas Johnson) with three and senior Daja Jackson (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Gilbert (Ariz.)) with one.

Davila handed out a match-high 36 assists and added 14 digs. Sophomore Maiya Piccarreta (Douglassville, Pa./Daniel Boone Area) had a match-high 22 digs and Everett finished with a team-high three blocks.

Three other Falcons had double-digit digs in the match. Sanchez-Castro had 18, D. Jackson followed with 16, and Melton finished with 10 digs.

Sophomore Riley Breen (Southampton, N.J.) guided Bryn Athyn with 14 kills, three service aces, one block and 16 digs.

Cedar Crest (6-10 overall, 1-0 United East) will travel to Keystone College to take on the Giants on Saturday, October 5 at 6:00 p.m. Bryn Athyn (2-12 overall, 0-2 United East) will return home for a conference match on Saturday against Penn State Harrisburg starting at 1:00 p.m.