Brandywine Drops United East Match In Maryland

ST. MARY'S, Md. – The Penn State Brandywine volleyball team was defeated 3-0 (17-25, 23-25, 15-25) by St. Mary's College of Maryland in United East Conference action on Wednesday night.

Emma O'Reilly (Horsham, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) led the Lions' offense with six kills and two aces, while Emmalin Molinaro (North Caldwell, N.J./West Essex) and Morgan Rizer (Denton, Md./North Caroline) both tallied five kills. Shayla Howell (Newark, Del./St. George's Tech) handed out 20 assists.

Aaliyna Patel (Bowie, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt) topped all players with 12 digs, defensively. O'Reilly notched eight digs, while Molinaro tallied six and Nia Moore (Gainesville, Va./Patriot) collected two blocks.

The Seahawks led wire-to-wire during the opening set after beginning the match with four-straight points. Brandywine trimmed the margin to just one following a Rizer ace, but the hosts pulled away to claim a 1-0 edge in the match.

Brandywine used a 4-1 spurt, capped by consecutive kills by Moore, to take a 20-19 advantage during the second set. St. Mary's battled back to build a 23-21 edge by scoring four of the next five points. Molinaro set down a kill and the Seahawks committed an error to tie the count at 23-all, but the hosts netted the final two points of the frame to win it, 25-23.

The final set belonged to St. Mary's, which opened up a 15-5 edge and never let the lead dip below nine points the rest of the way.

Brandywine (10-10, 4-3 UEC) is back at home Saturday for Senior Day when the Lions host Penn State Abington at 12:00 PM.