Worcester, Mass. – The Le Moyne College volleyball team traveled to take on Holy Cross in a midweek matchup on Tuesday night. The Dolphins dropped the final non-conference match of their regular season in three sets, 25-18, 28-26, 25-23, and now sit with a 1-11 record on the year.
In set one, the Dolphins remained within two points, 13-15, before the Crusaders put together three multi-point streaks late to take it, 25-18.
Le Moyne and Holy Cross went back-and-forth through the first 24 points of set two, before the Dolphins eventually pulled away to take an 18-16 lead. Holy Cross then went on a five-point streak before Le Moyne took four consecutive points to tie the match at 23-23. Despite back-to-back kills by the Dolphins to take a 26-25 lead, the Crusaders were able to battle back for the 28-26 set victory.
Le Moyne fought back from a 5-9 deficit to take a 16-15 lead, but were unable to hold off multiple consecutive-point rallies from Holy Cross late in set three, as they dropped it 23-25.
Junior opposite hitter Branwyn Lupton (Napanee, O.N. / Napanee District Secondary School) led the offense for Le Moyne, tallying 11 kills while sophomore outside hitters Denali Louden (Murrieta, C.A. / Murrieta Mesa) and Nina Salas (Austin, T.X. / McNeil) added another seven and six kills, respectively. Sophomore setter Skylar Jehlen (Rochester, N.Y. / Churchville Chili) registered a match-high two service aces while senior setter/DS Haley Gerken (Buffalo, N.Y. / Frontier) contributed 13 assists in the loss.
On defense, sophomore libero/DS Brooke Menke (St. Louis, M.O. / Visitation Academy) led the squad with 18 digs, as Louden also recorded double-digits in the category with 11. Freshman middle hitter Eiley Schneider (Ramsey, N.J./Ramsey) was dominant against the Crusaders, setting a career-high with eight blocks on Tuesday night.
For Holy Cross, Taliah Lee tallied a team-high 10 kills while Isla Glover added nine kills of her own, along with two service aces. Katie Russell rounded out the offense with a match-best 21 assists in the victory. Lily Eigner and Savannah Barron led the Crusaders on the defensive end with 14 and 13 digs each, respectively, while Lacey Murphy added four blocks, as well.
What's Next:
Le Moyne will take part in the Syracuse Invitational this weekend with their first matchup coming against St. John's at Syracuse University at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 19.
