10/4/22
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – The Lackawanna College women's volleyball team is prepping for its first home match in 17 days, when the Falcons host the Mustangs of Montgomery County CC on Tuesday, October 4^th inside the Lackawanna College Student Union gymnasium.
 
The match is set to start at 7:00pm ET, and attendance is free to the public. If you cannot make the match in person, there will be a video livestream available online at lackawannafalcons.com/LIVE, or via the Region 19 Sports Network app on your smartphone or tablet.
 
The Falcons met the Mustangs earlier this season, with Montco earning a 3-0 sweep for the win. You can read the recap from that match HERE.
 
About The Falcons
Lackawanna College (2-6) comes into Tuesday's match-up on the heels of a tough road loss at nationally ranked Harrisburg Area CC, 3-0, this past Saturday afternoon. You can read the recap from that match HERE.
 
Hitting errors have plagued Lackawanna this year, with the Falcons amassing 130 kills, along with 117 errors on the year. They average around 5.4 kills per set. Falcon opponents are averaging around .204 in hitting percentage, and score just shy of 9 kills per set. The Falcons have 60 service aces on the season, averaging 2.5 per set, and have 372 digs on the season, a 15.5 digs per set clip.
 
Hunter Heeman (New Milford, PA) has a team-best 59 kills so far this season, and had three straight matches with double-digit kills before the Harrisburg Area match. Heeman has had six or more kills in six of her eight matches this year. Heeman also has hit double-digit digs in five of her eight matches on the season. Heeman was held to four kills on 23 attacks and eight digs in the loss to Harrisburg. Against Montco back in September, Heeman had two kills on 12 attacks, but also added two service aces, eight digs, and two solo blocks.  
 
Makayla Jones (Weatherford, TX) is second on the team with 27 kills on the season. Jones set a season-high for kills last week, her second straight match doing so, when she went for seven kills against Harcum College. Jones now has more kills in her last four matches (19) than she did in her first four matches combined (8). She has also hit double-figures in digs in four of her eight matches this season, including four of her last six. Jones had a kill on 25 attacks, as well as a service ace and nine digs, in the loss to Harrisburg. Against Montgomery County, Jones had three kills on 12 attacks, along with three digs for the Falcons.  
 
Melanie Pinillos (Miami, FL) is fourth on the team with 14 kills this year, and leads the team with 17 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 five of her eight matches this season, crossing the 20-dig barrier twice. Pinillos had a season-high seven kills in the opener against Lehigh Carbon. Pinillos had three assists and six digs in the loss to Harrisburg on Saturday. She went for one kill on 22 attempts and had seven digs, as well as an ace, in the loss to Montgomery earlier this season.
 
Delaney Hollenbeck (Kingsley, PA) has 15 kills so far this season, third on the team, and is tied for second on the team with Hunter Heeman, putting down eleven service aces this year. Hollenbeck leads the Falcons with 71 assists this season, crossing double-figures in four matches this season, including her last three appearances. Hollenbeck has hit her season-best in assists in her last two matches, going for 19 assists in the win at Lehigh Carbon. Hollenbeck did not appear in the loss to Harrisburg on Saturday. She had one kill in eleven attempts, as well as four assists and five digs in the loss to Montgomery County 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
Montgomery County CC (4-5) comes into the match-up on the wrong end of a four-match losing streak. The Mustangs, after defeating Lackawanna College on September 15^th, had gone on to sweep Lehigh Carbon and then upset Delaware Tech CC on the road in a five-set thriller to move to 4-1 on the year. Since then, they dropped a pair of four-set losses to Harrisburg Area CC and Bergen CC, and then were swept by Raritan Valley and Harcum College, the loss to Harcum being the most recent match.  
 
The Mustangs are led by Athena Berlingeri, who had a team-high 14 kills in the season-opening win at Harcum. Berlingeri was efficient in the sweep over the Bears, hitting at a .643 clip. Natalie Wernly is second on the team with ten kills, hitting at a .667 clip, with three service aces and a team-high 13 digs.
 
In that match-up with Harcum, Ciara Kicinski led the Mustangs with 27 assists. Samantha Ondik had a team-high five service aces, providing three kills for Montgomery CC.
 
No other season statistics are available for the Mustangs.
 
The head coach for Montgomery County CC is Miljana Vukoslavovic.   
 
Match Details
The match is set for a 7:00pm ET start on Tuesday, October 4^th inside the Lackawanna College Student Union gymnasium in Scranton, PA. Attendance is open to the public, and there will be a video livestream available for those who cannot attend at lackawannafalcons.com/LIVE, or via the Region 19 Sports Network app on smartphones or tablets.
 
The Falcons are next in action on Thursday, October 6^th, when they travel to Bethlehem, PA for a road contest against the Spartans of Northampton CC. That match is scheduled for a 6:00pm ET start, and can be streamed live via the Northampton CC Spartans Network, as part of the Region 19 Sports Network.