ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Cedar Crest College volleyball team split a home tri-match on Saturday at Lees Gymnasium. The Falcons edged Penn State Hazleton in five sets, 3-2, and were then swept by Stockton University, 3-0, in the final match of the day.

Match One – Cedar Crest 3, Penn State Hazleton 2 (25-16, 18-25, 25-10, 19-25, 17-15)

Penn State Hazleton got out to a 6-3 lead in the early going of the first set. Cedar Crest then answered back with a 13-3 run, finished off by a kill from junior Ellise Everett (Orlando, Fla./Lake Nona) to make the score 16-9. After a point by the Nittany Lions, the Falcons went on another run, this time a 6-1 spurt to stretch the margin to 11, 22-11. Cedar Crest was able to hold off Penn State Hazleton and capture the opening set, 25-16.

In the beginning stages of the second set, the Nittany Lions held a 7-5 advantage. The Falcons answered back with five consecutive points to take a 10-7 lead. Later in the frame, Penn State Hazleton used a 10-2 run to snag the five-point edge, 22-17 and then outscored Cedar Crest 3-1 over the remainder of the set to take the stanza, 25-18.

The Falcons raced out to a 16-1 lead in the third set and increased its margin to 16, 19-3, followed by a kill by senior Ziah Melton (Allentown, Pa./William Allen). The Nittany Lions followed with five straight points to trim its deficit to 11, 19-8. Cedar Crest finished on a 6-2 run to secure a 2-1 set advantage with a 25-10 set victory.

Penn State Hazleton came out on top in the fourth set, taking the frame, 25-19, to force a fifth and deciding set.

The Falcons jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the final set and then the Nittany Lions tallied four straight points to knot the score at six. Cedar Crest came back with a 5-1 spurt to make the score 11-7. Penn State Hazleton responded with five consecutive points to take a 12-11 lead. After the Nittany Lions took a one-point advantage, 14-13, the Falcons finished on a 4-1 run to take the set 17-15 and the match in five sets.

Everett finished the match with 23 kills, one assist, one service ace, four blocks, and four digs for Cedar Crest. Melton contributed 17 kills to go along with three service aces, and five digs. Junior Alana Connor (Manassas, Va./Charles J. Colgan) registered a double-double of 15 kills and 16 digs. She also had five service aces and a pair of blocks. Sophomore Tianlly Davila (Frederick, Md./Governor Thomas Johnson) recorded 53 assists and 11 digs for a double-double, while graduate student Rebekka Sanchez-Castro (Columbia, Md./Atholton) collected a match-high 49 digs.

Junior Sydney Mack (Baltimore, Md.) paced Penn State Hazleton with 19 kills.

Match Two – Stockton 3, Cedar Crest 0 (25-13, 25-21, 15-14)

Stockton built a 13-4 advantage in the first set and extended its margin to as many 13, 23-10. The Falcons scored three straight points, but back-to-back points from the Ospreys gave Stockton the frame, 25-13.

The visitors built another big lead in the second set, going up 15-8 following a kill by Megan Sears. Cedar Crest climbed back into the stanza, using an 8-3 run to pull the score to within two, 18-16. The Falcons later cut it to three, 24-21, after a 3-0 run, but a kill from sophomore Nicole Palmer (East Islip, N.Y.) gave the Ospreys the 25-21 second-set victory.

Stockton doubled up Cedar Crest 14-7 in the third set and extended its margin to 11 after a 5-0 run, 19-8. The Falcons trimmed the deficit to eight, 20-12, but the Ospreys concluded on a 5-2 run to win the set 25-14, and the match in straight sets.

Palmer guided Stockton with 13 kills, 11 assists, one service ace, one block, and five digs. Junior Regan Mendick (Newark, Del.) handed out 20 assists to go along with three kills, three service aces, and six digs. Sophomore McKenna Ritchie (Newark, Del.) led the Osprey defense with 12 kills.

For the Falcons, junior Alana Connor (Manassas, Va./Charles J. Colgan) had a team-high seven kills in addition to three service aces and five digs. Davila dished out a team-high 16 assists. Sanchez-Castro was the leader in digs for Cedar Crest with 15.

Cedar Crest (4-8 overall) will travel to Gwynedd Mercy University for its next match on Wednesday, September 25 at 7:00 p.m.