Brandywine Downed In Four Sets At Abington Tri-Match

ABINGTON, Pa. – The Penn State Brandywine volleyball team dropped both ends of a tri-match at Penn State Abington on Saturday afternoon, falling to the host Lions (18-25, 13-25, 25-22, 11-25) and Bryn Mawr (11-25, 23-25, 25-17, 22-25) in four-sets.

Match One: Penn State Abington 3, Penn State Brandywine 1

After a slow start that saw the Lions fall behind two sets to none and trail 13-5 early in the third set, Sophie Scrivo's (Chester, Conn./Valley Regional) kill sparked a 12-2 Brandywine surge that put the Lions in front. Lexie Berry (Brookhaven, Pa./Daegu) and Anna Ramirez (Exton, Pa./Downingtown East) added kills, while Laura Jezyk (Wilmington, Del./St. Elizabeth) capped the run with an ace.

Abington responded with five-straight points; however, Brandywine put together another run as four Abington errors and a kill and two aces from Hailey Piccirillo (Broadlands, Va./Virginia Academy) helped the Lions score seven of the final eight points to win the set.

The Lions scored three consecutive points to get within 9-8 of Abington during the final frame, but the rest of the set belonged the hosts as Abington pulled away to win 25-11.

O'Reilly notched a team-high six kills, while Ramirez tallied five and Piccirillo added four. Jezyk collected nine assists and matched Emmalin Molinaro (North Caldwell, N.J./West Essex) for the team lead with three aces.

Molinaro and Jezyk both registered 10 digs on defense, while Ramirez tallied 12 and Ava De La Osa (Dania Beach, Fla./Nova) added nine. Berry had four blocks.

Match Two: Bryn Mawr 3, Penn State Brandywine 1

The Lions again fell into a 2-0 hole, but scored five of the first six points during set No. 3 to build an early lead.

The Owls trimmed the Brandywine lead to one point on three occasions, but O'Reilly led a 6-0 run with a kill and three-straight aces to push the margin to 22-15. Bryn Mawr scored the next two points before a Ramirez kill gave the third set to Brandywine.

Brandywine overcame a six-point deficit to tie the fourth set at 10-all as Berry set down kills for the final two points of a 7-1 spurt. The Lions nearly rallied from a seven-point deficit after Bryn Mawr built a 19-12 edge, closing within 22-21 following Scrivo's kill; however, the Owls netted the final three points of the day to close out the match in four sets.

Molinaro tallied a season-best 16 digs, while De La Osa collected 10 and Jezyk notched eight to pace the Lions' defense.

Ramirez posted a team-high seven kills and O'Reilly added six, while tying Piccirillo for the team lead in aces with three. Piccirillo and Berry both landed five kills, while Jezyk handed out 14 assists.

Brandywine (1-7) returns home Tuesday to face Rosemont at 7:00 PM.