Erie, P.A.  – The Le Moyne College volleyball team traveled to face off against the Mercyhurst University Lakers and fell in five sets; 25-10, 23-25, 28-26, 25-13, 12-15 on Friday night. The NEC matchup loss dropped the Dolphins record to 4-21 overall and 3-10 in NEC matches this season. 

In the first set, with the Lakers leading 12-10 midway through, the Dolphins went on a seven-point run highlighted by two service aces and a pair of kills to give themselves a 17-12. After some back-and-forth late in the frame, Le Moyne was able to shut down Mercyhurst and take set one, 25-10. Sets two and three came down to the wire with the Dolphins leading late in both, however the Lakers pulled away and came out to a 2-1 set lead. Set four was all Le Moyne as they went on to separate six-point scoring runs before finishing out the set with five straight points to tie the match at two sets. In the final frame, the Dolphins pulled out to a 5-0 lead but six consecutive points from the Lakers proved insurmountable as Mercyhurst came out on top in the first match of the weekend.

For the Dolphins, sophomore opposite hitter Branwyn Lupton (Napanee, O.N. / Napanee District Secondary School) registered a team-high 15 kills while freshman middle hitter Anaya Rawlinson (Whitby, O.N. / Sinclair Secondary School) tallied another 13 and freshman outside hitter Jordyn Hamlin (Manahawkin, N.J. / Southern Regional) recorded 12 kills of her own. Freshman setter Skylar Jehlen (Rochester, N.Y. / Churchville-Chili) led Le Moyne with 25 assists, with junior setter Haley Gerken (Buffalo, N.Y. / Frontier) also adding 22 in the match. Defensively, freshman libero/DS Brooke Menke (St. Louis, M.O. / Visitation Academy) put up the high in digs with 16 while Gerken (13), sophomore libero/DS Haley Buescher (Toledo, O.H. / St. Ursula Academy) and Hamlin (12) each tallied double-digit digs, as well. Junior middle hitter Kayla Anstett (Rochester, N.Y. / Hilton) led with four block solos while Rawlinson and Lupton each added another three for the Dolphins.

For the Lakers, Andrea Zaric led with 14 kills, while Kailtin Murphy, Paige Miller, and Trinity Tatupu rounded out Mercyhurst's scorers in the double-digits. Alia Mastromatteo put up a match-high 26 assists with Alyssa Krause adding 21 more in the win. On defense, Sydney Forcht led with 17 digs while Tatupu registered a team-high two block solos against Le Moyne.

The Dolphins will finish the 2024 season in their second match against Mercyhurst tomorrow afternoon Saturday, Nov. 16 starting at 1:00 P.M.