10/15/22
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – The Lackawanna College women's volleyball team will look to close out their regular season slate with a home match against nationally ranked Harrisburg Area CC on Saturday, October 15^th, inside the Lackawanna Student Union gymnasium.
 
The match is set for a 12:00pm ET start, and is open and free to attend to the public. For those who cannot attend, there will be a video livestream on www.lackawannafalcons.com/LIVE, as well as the Region 19 Sports Network app.
 
In the last meeting, the HACC Hawks were dominant, winning the match two weeks ago in straight sets, 3-0. You can read the recap from that match HERE.
 
About The Falcons
Lackawanna College (2-12) has dropped its last seven matches, including a pair of matches this past Tuesday against Harcum College and County College of Morris in a tri-match at home. Despite the results, the Falcons played some of their best volleyball, even in defeat, and particularly in the second match of the evening, where they pushed Morris to five sets, and went into extra points in that final set. You can read the recap HERE.
 
The Falcons have steadily improved their hitting percentage as the season has gone on, now amassing 227 kills to 207 errors on the year. They average around 5.7 kills per set. Falcon opponents are averaging around .192 in hitting percentage, and score 6.6 kills per set. The Falcons have 88 service aces on the season, averaging 2.2 per set, and have 667 digs on the season, a 16.7 digs per set clip.
 
Hunter Heeman (New Milford, PA) is the team leader in kills so far this year, and has hit double-digits in kills in nearly half her matches this season. Heeman had six or more kills in nine matches this season. Heeman also has hit double-digit digs in at least nine matches this year. Heeman had ten kills on 56 attempts in the marathon match against Morris. She put up a season-high 33 digs against the Titans. Against Harrisburg two weeks ago, Heeman had four kills on 23 attempts in the loss to the Hawks.
 
Makayla Jones (Weatherford, TX) is second on the team in kills this year. Jones set a season-high for kills in the match with Morris, amassing ten kills on 71 attacks, while compiling 29 digs against the Titans. She has also hit double-figures in digs in nine of her last 12 matches this season. Jones had six kills on 29 attempts in the loss to Harcum on Tuesday, and had two combined service aces in the two matches on Tuesday. Against Harrisburg, Jones had a kill on 25 attempts and nine digs against HACC.  
 
Melanie Pinillos (Miami, FL) is the team leader in digs with 200 so far this season. Pinillos is also fourth on the team in kills this season, and leads the team with 24 service aces this season. As Pinillos has settled more into her role as libero, her kills have gone down, but her digs have shot up, hitting double-figures in ten matches this season, crossing the 20-dig barrier five times. Pinillos had a season-high seven kills in the opener against Lehigh Carbon. She had a combined three kills on six attacks, two assists, and four service aces in two matches against Harcum and Morris on Tuesday. She also set a season-high with 45 digs against the Titans. Against Harrisburg, Pinillos had three assists but no kills and just six digs.   
 
Delaney Hollenbeck (Kingsley, PA) is third on the team in kills this season, and is second on the team with 21 service aces this year. Hollenbeck leads the Falcons with 144 assists this season, crossing double-figures in nine matches on the year, including eight of her last nine appearances. Hollenbeck set her season-high in assists in back-to-back matches on Tuesday, first with 21 in the loss to Harcum, and then 22 helpers in the loss to Morris. Hollenbeck also set a season-high with seven kills in the match against Morris, tying her season-high with four service aces in the match. Hollenbeck did not appear in the first match against Harrisburg Area earlier this season.    
 
The head coach for the Falcons is Shelby Morgan, in her first season at the helm. Morgan previously spent seven seasons as the head coach at Cedar Crest College, where she helped transform the Falcons from a conference basement dweller into a perennial threat, culminating in an NCAA tournament appearance in 2021.
 
About The Opponents
Harrisburg Area CC (3-0) comes into the contest as the #4 ranked team in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division III rankings this past week. The Hawks are one of two Region 19 teams ranked inside the top-15, with Raritan Valley CC coming in at #11. Harrisburg has defeated Raritan twice this year. The Hawks have been rolling, even by their lofty standards, of late, not dropping a set, let alone a match in two weeks. In their last match, a clean sweep over Montgomery County CC on Thursday, the Hawks hit a scorching .409 and .500 in the first and third sets, on their way to a comfortable win. Mackenzie Maass had a team-high eleven kills, and was the top player among the eight different Hawks to record a kill. Taylor Beeler had six kills and a team-best three service aces, while Kendall Wales had five kills and Kyla Kolivoski put up 32 service aces and three service aces of her own.
 
The Hawks are led by Taylor Beeler, who averages 3.44 kills per set and has 155 total kills on the season. Beeler is hitting at .289 on the season, and has a team-best 41 service aces this season. She also has 136 digs, good for third on the team. Beeler has hit double-figures in kills on seven separate occasions, but has not done so in her last three matches. She had a season-best 18 kills, as well as a season-high five service aces, in a win over Northampton earlier this year. Beeler had six kills on 18 attempts in the sweep over Montgomery, and she had 15 kills on 26 attempts, hitting .462, in the win over Lackawanna College two weeks ago.
 
Second on the team in kills is middle blocker Mackenzie Maass, who has 153 total kills on the year, averaging just around 3.3 kills per set. Maass is hitting at a .417 clip on the year, and has 15 service aces this season. She's also second on the team with 27 solo blocks, and 29 total blocks on the year. Ten times she's had double-digit kills, including a season-best 17 kills in a 3-1 win over Montgomery County CC earlier this year. She had a season-best five solo blocks against Queensborough Community College to start the season. Maass had eleven kills on 17 attempts, hitting .529 in the win over Montgomery County CC on Thursday, and had eleven kills on 15 attacks in the win over Lackawanna two weeks ago.  
 
 
Kendall Wales is third on the team with 75 kills so far this season, averaging just under two kills per set on the season. Wales is hitting around .223 on the season, and has 40 digs and nine service aces on the season. She had a season-high 12 kills in the win over Montgomery County CC earlier this season. Wales had five kills on 13 attacks in the win over Montgomery County CC on Thursday. She did not appear against Lackawanna College two weeks ago.
 
Tennison McGraw has 64 kills on the year, fourth on the team, averaging 1.6 kills per set. McGraw has 12 service aces this year, and has 12 solo blocks, good for third on the team. McGraw really stepped up against Harcum, going for her season-high 15 kills and hitting .303 for the match. She also had a season-high three service aces against the Bears. McGraw had five kills on nine attacks in the win over Montco on Thursday, and she had three kills on ten attempts in the win over Lackawanna two weeks ago.
 
Emma Ruth is the top blocker for the Hawks, denying a team-best 29 attacks by herself. Ruth has 35 kills on the year for Harrisburg. She had her season-high in the first match of the year, with nine solo blocks against Queensborough Community College. Against Montco on Thursday, she had four kills on nine attempts, while also coming up with a solo block. Against Lackawanna College, she had four kills on eight attempts, without a block against the Falcons.
 
Kolivoski is the team-leader in assists, with 533 helpers on the year, averaging around 11.6 assists per set. She's fourth on the team with 126 digs on the season. She hit her season-high in kills with four against Bergen CC back on October 8^th. She has dished out double-digit assists in every match this season, including a season-best 51 in the match with Harcum. She's also hit double-figures in digs six separate times this season, with 21 being her season-best against Raritan Valley earlier this season. Against Montco on Thursday, Kolivoski had 32 assists and ten digs in the sweep over the Mustangs. Against Lackawanna, Kolivoski had 33 assists and three kills, as well as four service aces.
 
Ashley NyeSmith leads the Hawks with 29 service aces on the year, and is second on the team in digs with 193 on the year. NyeSmith had a season-best six service aces come against Raritan Valley earlier this year, where she also had her season-high in digs with 30. She's hit double-figures in digs in eleven of 15 matches this year, and has recorded at least one kill in eight matches, including her season-high of three kills against Lackawanna. NyeSmith had three assists and two service aces, as well as 17 digs, in the win over Montco on Thursday.  
 
Tom Frye is the head coach at Harrisburg Area CC, now in his seventh season and eighth overall year with the Hawks. Frye has won EPAC Coach of the Year in four straight seasons, dating back to 2017. He's also twice been awarded NJCAA Division III District L and North Atlantic A District in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Harrisburg is a three-time defending EPAC champion under Frye, reached the Region 19 tournament six times, and appeared in the Final Four on three occasions. Frye came to Harrisburg after coaching at West Shore YMCA and Sport City. He spent many years coaching both boys and girls volleyball, and also spent some time at York Towne Volleyball Club and Red Land High School. Frye is a graduate of the Altoona School of Commerce, where he earned an Associate's degree in Business, Administration and Management. 
 
Match Details
The Falcons will play Harrisburg Area CC inside the Lackawanna Student Union gymnasium on Saturday, October 15^th at 12:00pm ET. The match will be open and free to attend to the public. There will be a video livestream available on www.lackawannafalcons.com/LIVE, as well as the Region 19 Sports Network app.
 
Lackawanna College will await its fate in the Region 19 playoffs at the end of the month.