Lions Suffer Season-Opening Loss At Wilkes

WILKES BARRE, Pa. -- The Penn State Brandywine volleyball team was dealt a 3-0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-20) defeat during its season-opening match on Tuesday night at Wilkes University.

The Lions, playing the first of 14-straight road matches, were within three points during the first set following a kill by Lauren Kelly (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East), but the Colonels outscored Brandywine 11-3 to close out a 25-14 first set triumph.

Wilkes built a lead as large as five points in the second set before Brandywine chipped away, scoring three-straight points, the last of which came on a kill by Jade Maloney (Claymont, Del./Brandywine) to make the count 22-20; however the Colonels took advantage of two Brandywine errors and added a kill by Jamie Mikovich to claim a 25-22 victory and build a 2-0 edge.

Brandywine ran out a 7-2 lead in the third frame, but Wilkes rallied to knot the score for the first time at 9-9. The teams traded points until Wilkes jumped in front with three consecutive points. An ace by Becca Civera (Boothwyn, Pa./Chichester) and a kill from Kelly brought the Lions back within one, but Wilkes closed out the match by collecting the final four points of the frame.

Maloney topped the Lions with five kills, while Kelly, Nicolette Napoleon (Springfield, Pa./Penn Charter) and Rikelle Taylor (Solanco, Pa./Nottingham) all added three. Sullivan Stark (Middletown, Del./William Penn) dished out nine assists and record three digs and Julia Miles (Boothwyn, Pa./Chichester) totaled five assists and nine digs.

Kelly's 12 digs paced Brandywine, while Civera registered 11 and both Maloney and Napoleon tallied six.

Brandywine (0-1) returns to Wilkes Barre on Saturday for a tri-match at King's University against the host Monarchs (11:00 am) and Gwynedd Mercy (1:00 pm).