9/4/25
 
HAZLETON, Pa. – Lackawanna College women's volleyball team couldn't quite keep pace with Penn State Hazleton in its non-league match on Thursday evening, as the Nittany Lions won in a 3-0 sweep (25-21, 25-19, 25-16) inside the PSU Hazleton gymnasium.
 
The Falcons (1-3) to an ace to start the match from Ellania Morales (Wharton, NJ), and quickly went ahead 4-0 after a hitting error and back-to-back kills from Aryanna Brown (Chester, NY) and Kaitlyn Reed (Aurora, CO), forcing a timeout from the home squad.
 
Out of the break, the Nittany Lions (2-2) got a cross-court kill to get on the board and quickly climbed back into the set to tie things up at 4-all. Hazleton kept going, forging ahead at 7-4 in the set. It was all a part of a seven-point run to snag the lead. Lackawanna fought back, tying the set on a hitting error, then taking the lead back on an ace from Brown.
 
Later, the Falcons led 13-11, but Hazleton made a run to tie things up in set one. The Lions eventually took the lead on a mishit at the net. Hazleton pushed ahead 17-14, but the Falcons fought back, eventually going back ahead 19-18 and forcing a timeout. The Lions managed to fight back, scoring six of the next seven points to get to set point. The Falcons fought off the set point once, but a kill on the right side gave Hazleton the first set win.
 
Penn State pushed ahead at 6-2 to start the second set, leaving the Falcons with a hole to try to climb out of. Hazleton stretched that lead out to 9-4, forcing a timeout from Lackawanna. The stoppage didn't stem the tide, as Hazleton went ahead 12-4 before the Falcons finally snapped out of it and got a point on a Hazleton error.
 
The lead hovered between six and eight points for a few frames, but a big double block from Regan Freas (Louisa, VA) and Ciona Braziel (Fort Worth, TX) got it within five points for the Falcons. Back-to-back aces from Skylar Theis (Cypress, TX) forced a timeout at 15-12. Hazleton beat the Lackawanna block twice after the timeout to get back up by five at 17-12, then got another point when a potential Lackawanna kill was ruled off the antenna. The Lions scored again on a hitting error, then took advantage of a bad overpass to score a kill down the middle to make it 20-12.
 
Lackawanna was down by as much as nine, but closed within four at 23-19 late in the second set, but a mistake by the Falcons on a missed pass got the Lions to set point, and Hazleton won the second set on the next rally, sneaking a looping kill over the middle block for the 25-19 win.
 
In set three, Hazleton once again took the lead, jumping out to a 5-2 advantage, then extending out to 9-4. The left side attack, plus mistakes from the Falcons, kept adding to the deficit. The Lions used what was an 8-0 run to go from 6-4 up to 14-4. The lead never dipped below eight, and Hazleton eventually won it on a kill that found its way through the Lackawanna block at 25-16.
 
The loss drops the Falcons to 1-3 through their first four matches. Lackawanna College will look to get back on track with its home opener on Friday, September 5^th, against Northampton CC. First serve is set for a 5:00pm ET start inside the historic Lackawanna College Student Union gymnasium.