MIDDLETOWN, Pa. – The Cedar Crest College volleyball team lost to Penn State Harrisburg in a 3-0 final in a United East Conference match at the Capital Union Building on Saturday afternoon in the regular season finale for both teams.

The Lions won the match by scores of 25-13, 25-19, and 25-20.

The Falcons got out to a 4-3 advantage in the beginning stages of the first set, after back-to-back kills by graduate student Ziah Melton (Allentown, Pa./William Allen) and senior Akashia Johnson (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore Polytechnic Institute). Penn State Harrisburg then embarked on a 15-5 run to double up Cedar Crest, 18-9. After a point by the Falcons, the Lions used a 7-3 spurt to win the frame by a score of 25-13.

Cedar Crest held a 9-7 lead in the early going of the second set. Penn State Harrisburg rattled off a 8-3 run to grab a 15-12 advantage. The teams traded two-point runs and then the Falcons went on a mini 3-1 run to trim the deficit to one, 18-17. The Lions then finished on a 7-2 run to take the second stanza, 25-19.

Penn State Harrisburg started the third set by outscoring Cedar Crest, 10-5. The Falcons then strung together a 6-0 run, capped off by a kill by junior Ellise Everett (Orlando, Fla./Lake Nona) to give the visitors a one-point lead, 11-10. The Lions answered back with a 9-2 run to make the score 19-13. Cedar Crest cut the margin to three, 19-16, but Penn State Harrisburg outscored the Falcons 6-4 over the remainder of the set to win the set 25-20 and the match in straight sets.

Melton and Everett led the way for Cedar Crest with six kills apiece. Graduate student Rebekka Sanchez-Castro (Columbia, Md./Atholton) followed with five. Johnson closed the category with four. Senior Daja Jackson (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Gilbert (Ariz.)) tallied a team-high 18 assists, while Melton and sophomore Maiya Piccarreta (Douglassville, Pa./Daniel Boone Area) pitched in one each. Jackson had the lone service ace in the match for the Falcons. Everett chipped in the lone block of the match for the visitors. Melton paced Cedar Crest with 13 digs, Sanchez-Castro registered 10, Piccarreta tallied eight, Everett had six, Jackson turned in five, and Johnson rounded out the category with two.

Junior Hannah DeGregory (Faifax, Va.) guided the Lions with 14 kills, 11 assists, two service aces, and seven digs.

Cedar Crest (9-16 overall, 4-6 United East) has qualified for the United East Conference Championship Tournament as the No. 10 seed and will play at seventh-seeded Penn State Abington in a First Round match on Wednesday, November 6.