Box Score 9/15/22

BLUE BELL, Pa. -- Lackawanna College couldn't overcome a sluggish first set, and fell in a sweep to Montgomery County CC, 3-0 (25-16, 25-23, 25-21), on Thursday evening in Blue Bell, PA.
 
The Falcons (1-3) were led by Hunter Heeman (New Milford, PA), who had a team-high three kills and a pair of service aces, as well as two blocks. Olivia Lynwood (Scranton, PA) had two kills and two digs, while Melanie Pinillos (Miami, FL) added a kill, an ace, and a team-high three digs.

In set one, the Mustangs (2-1) jumped out early to a 6-1 advantage, but a few mistakes gave the Falcons an opening to cut it to 7-4. The teams continued to trade points back-and-forth, with Montco plagued by service errors, but still managing to score, maintaining a 12-8 advantage. The Mustangs scored three points in a row to push the lead to 15-8, forcing a timeout from Lackawanna College. After the timeout, Montco lengthened their advantage to double-digits at 18-8 before the Falcons got a point to stop the streak. 

As the set wore on, both teams traded points again, with Lynwood scoring the first kill of the match for the Falcons. Pinillos added a kill of her own in the process, cutting it to 23-15, but the Mustangs scored two of the next three points to win the first set, 25-16.

The Falcons showed a lot more fight in the second set, taking an early 2-0 lead thanks to a mistake by the Mustangs, followed by a huge Heeman block. Montco responded by scoring the next three points to claim the lead. 

Later in the second, the Falcons had just broken serve to tie things at 7-all, sparking a three-point swing that saw the Falcons take a 9-7 advantage. The Mustangs responded with a 4-1 mini-run to re-take the lead at 11-10, but the Falcons quickly tied things up thanks to a service error, then added a block from Heeman to take a 12-11 lead. 

The Falcons held a 17-15 lead, but Montco went on a killer 5-0 spurt to take control of the set and force a timeout from Lackawanna College. The Falcons responded by scoring four of the next five points, which included a kill from Makayla Jones (Weatherford, TX) and a service ace from Brittney Shafer (Gratz, PA) to even the score at 21-21. With the score again tied at 23, the Falcons committed a service error to lose serve, and the Mustangs won a frantic rally at the end by forcing an error on Lackawanna to win set two, 25-23.

The third set started brightly for Lackawanna College, as the Falcons took a 6-3 lead, thanks in part to good service from Heeman. Montco tied things back up at 6-all, and both teams stayed even, again going point-for-point. Pinillos had a service ace and Heeman and Delaney Hollenbeck (Kingsley, PA) each added kills during a run where neither team could separate from each other. Eventually, Montco took a 17-15 lead, the first time anybody had led by two since Lackawanna led 6-4, and the Mustangs pushed the lead to 19-16, forcing a Lackawanna timeout.

A hitting error out of the timeout gave Montgomery another point, and the Mustangs lengthened their lead to 21-16, before a service error gave the Falcons a point. Later, with the lead at 24-19, a pair of errors had the Falcons within three, but a kill attempt beat the Falcon block, ending the set at 25-21, and giving the Mustangs the 3-0 win.  Lackawanna College returns home for a Saturday, September 17^th match-up with Northampton CC at 11:00am inside the Lackawanna Student Union gymnasium.