9/5/25
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – Lackawanna College women's volleyball team played some of its best volleyball of the early season, but the nationally ranked Northampton CC squad dug deep and came back from an 0-2 hole to reverse sweep the Falcons, 3-2 (19-25, 18-25, 25-16, 25-20, 15-11) on Friday evening in an Eastern Pennsylvania Athletic Conference (EPAC) contest inside the historic Lackawanna College Student Union gymnasium.
 
The Falcons (1-4, 0-1) came flying out of the gates through the first two sets. Excellent service from Aryanna Brown (Chester, NY), Jana Hofmann (Colorado Springs, CO) and Kaitlynn Reed (Aurora, CO) kept the opposition on the back foot, and Lackawanna pounced on several mistakes from Northampton. Ciona Braziel (Fort Worth, TX) owned the net, while Brown and Hofmann provided offensive support on the edges. Lackawanna overcame an early 9-4 hole in set one to run off a 17-6 surge and eventually win, then led wire-to-wire in set two to put the visiting Spartans' backs against the wall.
 
D3 #11 Northampton (5-0, 2-0) managed to overcome the early mistakes to turn the tables on the Falcons in sets three and four. Now, as the Spartans found the space on the edges and kept beating Lackawanna's block, it was the Falcons' turn to make mistakes and play sloppily. In set four, Lackawanna and Northampton each traded points back-and-forth. Every time it seemed like the Spartans would start to pull away, Braziel, who had an especially great fourth set, would drag the Falcons back into the fold. Eventually, Northampton managed to pull away, winning set four on a "carry" call against the Falcons to send it to a fifth and final set.
 
Things swung back-and-forth through the fifth, with each team enjoying a small advantage before the other tying the set. The Falcons were the first to reach eight points at 8-7, but it was Northampton that took an 11-9 lead after the brief switch. The Spartans had enough gas in the tank to pull away, using their dominant middle and taking advantage of some Lackawanna miscues to snag the win.
 
It marks the third-straight setback for Lackawanna College, and its fourth loss in the first five games. The Falcons will try to bounce back with an important Region XIX Division II contest on Tuesday, September 9^th, against County College of Morris. First serve is at 6:00pm ET inside the historic Lackawanna College Student Union gymnasium.