9/27/25
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – Lackawanna women's volleyball went 1-1 on Saturday afternoon, defeating Raritan Valley CC in straight sets (25-20, 25-18, 25-15) before falling to Monroe University in three sets (25-12, 25-15, 25-10) inside the historic Lackawanna College Student Union gymnasium.
 
Against Raritan, the Falcons (6-6) broke open a tight first set with a nine-point surge, taking a 14-4 lead behind four kills from Aryanna Brown (Chester, NY) and a few errors from the Lions. The lead got as big as 12, but Raritan (6-9) showed heart and stormed back to within 23-19 at one point. A net violation against the Lions put set one on the brink, and, after a Lackawanna service error, the Falcons won on a hitting error from Raritan to go ahead 1-0.
 
In set two, Raritan led 8-7 at one point in a back-and-forth affair, but the Falcons used a 5-1 surge, powered by a pair of kills from Jana Hofmann (Colorado Springs, CO) to get ahead at 12-9. Things stayed close up to 14-12, when back-to-back kills from Brown and Neurdia Osias (Huntington Station, NY) gave the Falcons a bit of breathing room. Lackawanna extended out to 19-14 on two straight kills from Hofmann and Skylar Theis (Cypress, TX), and got two more kills from Hofmann, plus a kill from Regan Freas (Louisa, VA) to eventually win set two, 25-18.
 
The third set had Raritan open up its largest lead of the match at 8-4, but the Falcons closed to 10-7, then used a seven-point swing to jump in front, fueled by back-to-back aces from Ellania Morales (Wharton, NJ). The Falcons stayed in front by an arm's length up to 20-15, then pushed forward to the finish, getting a kill and an ace from Theis, an error from Raritan, and two kills from Hofmann to take the set at 25-15 and sweep the match, 3-0.
 
Brown led the way with nine kills, while Hofmann and Theis each put up eight tallies. Morales directed the offense with 20 assists and four aces.
 
Monroe (17-6) was a different story, as the Mustangs came out firing from the start against the Falcons, scoring five of their first six points by kills and racing to a 9-1 lead. Lackawanna couldn't seem to find a foothold, with eight points being the closest the set would get.
 
Set two against the Mustangs was a bit more lively, as Lackawanna battled and had things within two points a few times. The Falcons used a kill from Osias to get within 8-6, then a kill from Brown to make cut the deficit to 9-7. The problem was that Monroe kept answering those scores with points of its own. After the Brown score, the Mustangs went on an eight-point run, taking advantage of four kills and four errors from the Falcons to get ahead at 17-7. Lackawanna couldn't get closer than nine until a hitting error from Monroe got Lackawanna to a 23-15 margin. Monroe got back-to-back kills to win the set and take the 2-0 lead.
 
The Falcons completely collapsed in set three, as Monroe raced to an 8-0 lead, and led 16-3 at one point. Later in the set, back-to-back kills from Monroe had the Mustangs up 24-9 and one away from match point. Hofmann got herself on the with her fourth kill of the match, but a hitting error on the next attempt ended the match and gave Monroe the sweep.
 
Hofmann led the way with four kills, while Ciona Braziel (Fort Worth, TX) added four of her own in her first game back in nearly ten days. Brown had three kills and three aces, while Morales had eleven assists.

Monroe defeated Raritan in the middle match in straight sets (25-11, 25-12, 25-11) to go 2-0 on the day.
 
Lackawanna College will get back to action on Wednesday, October 1^st, with a match against Harford CC. First serve is scheduled for 5:00pm ET inside the historic Lackawanna College Student Union gymnasium.