Lackawanna College

11/6/26

SCRANTON, Pa. – A slow first set put Lackawanna College women's volleyball behind early, and the Falcons battled but couldn't stop the hot-hitting Kutztown University Golden Bears in a three-set sweep (25-11, 26-24, 25-21) on Friday night inside the historic Lackawanna College Student Union gymnasium.
 
The Falcons (0-20) hit well (.217) and posted seven aces, but Kutztown (21-9) hit better (.300), had more aces (10), and posted 38 digs on the night.
 
Jana Hofmann (Colorado Springs, CO) led all hitters with ten kills and a .320 attack percentage for the night, while also putting down three aces. Middle hitter Ciona Braziel (Fort Worth, TX) had eight kills on a perfect eight attempts. Sophia Bedics (Bethlehem, PA) added five kills. Syriana Smith (Houston, TX) added 15 assists, and Adalee Rosado Rivera (Guyama, Puerto Rico) had 17 digs.
 
The first set started about as bad as possible for Lackawanna, with Kutztown running off to a 16-3 advantage. Lackawanna really could never get itself back into the swing of things, as Kutztown got to 22-8. Two mistakes from the Bears, plus a kill from Bedics, got the Falcons within 22-11, but the Golden Bears scored the final three points to win 25-11.
 
Where set one was a runaway victory, set two was a knockdown, drag out brawl, as the Falcons and Bears were neck-and-neck throughout the early parts of the set. With Kutztown up 7-6, the Falcons rattled off a 7-1 run to go up 13-8, using a pair of kills from Braziel, three errors from the Bears, and an ace and kill from Bedics. Kutztown battled back to even at 14-14, and the lead see-sawed back and forth. Lackawanna went up 22-21 late after a Hofmann kill and an ace from Kaitlyn Reed (Aurora, CO), and the Falcons got it to set point at 24-23 after back-to-back errors from the Golden Bears, but an error on a pass tied the set at 24, an ace gave Kutztown a one-point lead, and a kill won it for the Bears at 26-24.
 
Set three was more of the same, with the Falcons ahead 4-2 early on a trio of kills from Braziel, Hofmann, and Nadia Toth (Dalton, PA), and Kutztown roaring back to go up 5-4. The teams were still tight, with the Falcons up 10-9, when Kutztown rattled off six-straight points to take at 15-10 lead. Lackawanna managed to answer with a run of its own, scoring six of the next seven points to get it to 16-16, thanks to an ace from Hofmann, a kill from Toth, a kill from Bedics, and three errors from Kutztown. The Bears took a three-point advantage, but the Falcons managed to get within 20-19 after another Kutztown error. The Bears pushed it to 23-19, but the Falcons scored two more to get back within 23-21. Eventually, Kutztown pulled away after a Falcon mistake and a kill, winning the set 25-21 and the match, 3-0.
 
Lackawanna College has one more game on their 2026 schedule, with the Millersville Marauders coming to Scranton on Saturday, November 7^th. First serve is at 1:00pm ET inside the historic Lackawanna College Student Union. The Falcons will be celebrating three senior players that have been with the program for four seasons and have contributed greatly to the Lackawanna College athletics program: Angelique Fuentes (Miami, FL), Mekenzie Dineen (Wilmington, DE), and Nadia Toth (Dalton, PA).