Box Score 9/4/24
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – The visitors from Harford showed Lackawanna College women's volleyball the kind of team they will need to eventually defeat to have any hope of championships this season, as the Fighting Owls swept past the Falcons, 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-19), on Wednesday evening at the Lackawanna College Student Union gymnasium.
 
The Falcons (3-1) could not get out of their own way throughout the match, committing several errors and being just a step slow on the blocks against the pace and power from the Owls (3-0). Outside hitter Laura Piva was a dominant force for Harford, and a player the Owls went to time-and-time again to jump start the offense.
 
After a first set that saw Harford slowly suffocate Lackawanna for an eight-point win, the Owls held another eight-point advantage at 18-10 in the second set. Trailing 20-13, the Falcons finally found a foothold in the match, running off nine of the next eleven points. Jana Hofmann (Colorado Springs, CO) started the rally with a kill to break serve, then went back to serve. She earned three straight aces to get Lackawanna within three points. Four points later, Harford held a 22-19 lead, when the Falcons again hit a quick spurt. An error broke Harford's serve, and back-to-back kills from Aryana Girvan (Clarion, PA) knotted things up at 22-all, forcing a timeout from Harford and sending the crowd into euphoria.
 
That positive feeling was to be short-lived, however, as the Owls got a point on a service error, then earned back-to-back aces from setter Morgan Barnett to squeeze past the Falcons and take a 2-0 lead.
 
In the third set, Lackawanna nudged ahead by a 6-3 margin early, thanks in part to a pair of big kills from Delaney Petri (Delevan, NY). Later, the Falcons led 8-6 and held the serve, when Piva took over for the Owls, with three kills in four points, completely flipping the set to Harford's favor. The Owls got the lead back out to 16-11, and the Falcons closed to within 17-16, then at 18-all, but Piva stepped up again, with a kill that was the first of seven points in eight, closing out the third set and the match.
 
Lackawanna College will look to rebound with a tri-match on Saturday, September 7^th, when Montgomery County CC and SUNY Westchester come to town. The first match, between Lackawanna and Montco will get things started at 10:00am ET, then Montco and Westchester will play the noon match, before Westchester and Lackawanna finish things off at 2:00pm ET.