Brandywine Falls Short Against Albright

MEDIA, Pa. -- The Penn State Brandywine volleyball team was downed by Albright in straight sets during its final home non-conference match as the Lions fell by set scores of 25-16, 25-13, 25-22 on Monday night.

A combined four service aces from Laura Jezyk (Wilmington, Del./St. Elizabeth) and Emma O'Reilly (Horsham, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham), plus a kill from O'Reilly, put the Lions out to an early 5-1 advantage, but Albright responded with an 8-1 run to jump in front. The visitors later used seven-straight points to pull away and win the opening set 25-16.

Albright led wire-to-wire during the second frame, scoring 10 of the first 13 points. The Lions closed within 18-12 following an Albright error, but the visitors recorded a 7-0 run to end set No. 2 with a 25-12 count.

Albright appeared to have control of the final set, leading 16-5, but Brandywine fought back. O'Reilly capped a run of four-straight Brandywine points with a kill that closed the margin to seven. After Albright got two points back, Brandywine reeled of six-straight and eight of the next nine points, aided by two Jezyk aces and kills from O'Reilly, Hailey Piccirillo (Broadlands, Va./Virginia Academy) and Anna Ramirez (Exton, Pa./Downingtown East) to close within two. The visitors pushed their lead to 21-17, but Brandywine continued to push back, taking the lead at 22-21 thanks to an Albright miscue; however, Albright recorded back-to-back kills to retake the lead and after Brandywine knotted the count at 23-all, used two more kills to end the match.

O'Reilly posted team highs with five kills and 10 digs, while Jezyk dished out 14 assists and tallied four aces. Ramirez and Piccirillo both tallied four kills.

Jezky also notched seven digs, while Britney Howell (Newark, Del./Delcastle Tech) registered nine and Morgan Rizer (Denton, Md./North Caroline) had two blocks.

Brandywine (2-8) will visit Gwynedd Mercy for a tri-match against the host Griffins (11:00 AM) and Notre Dame MD (1:00 PM) on Saturday.