Lions comeback to best York in five sets

Hazleton, Pa. - The Nittany Lions women's volleyball team stormed back from a 2-1 deficit on Thursday night, winning the final two sets of the evening to move past Penn State York in a five set thriller. With the win Hazleton moves into a tie with Penn State Mont Alto for the top spot in the eastern division with a 4-1 conference record and moves to 8-7 overall on the season.

York was in control early in the match using a 12 point run to beat Hazleton 25-14 in set one, but the Nittany Lions repaid the favor in set two, tying the match with a 25-14 win in the second frame. Hazleton seemed to have the momentum at that stage of the contest, going up 11-7 midway through set three, but York bounced back, scoring eight of the next nine points to claim a three point advantage. Hazleton clawed their way back into the set and had the serve trailing 23-21 but clutch kill from York's Sadie Schantz and hitting error from the Lions gave York a 2-1 cushion on Hazleton's home court. 

The visitor's looked to put the Lions away in set four, taking a 8-5 lead early in the stanza until four York errors gave Hazleton renewed hope. Trailing 10-9, Hazleton reeled off nine of the next 10 points which included five kills from third year player Sydney Mack. Hazleton went up by as many as seven points thanks to the run and kept York at bay down the stretch. Kills from second year players Sophia Del Vacchio and Kaytlin Kelley kept York behind the preverbal eight ball and fourth year Rebecca Dzuranin sealed the set victory with a service ace to send the match to a tiebreaker set. 

The fifth set was neck and neck early on. Kelley put away two kills midway through to give Hazleton a 10-6 but York bounced right back to get within one point of the Lions. With the score at 10-11 in favor of Hazleton, Sydney Mack registered her 20th kill of the night, shifting momentum back to the Hazleton squad and the Lions went on to score the final four points of the evening to claim the comeback win.

Mack was outstanding once again, particularly late in the match. 10 of her 20 kills on the night came in sets four and five to help give the Lions the edge. Kelley also had a bid night, totaling nine kills and two solo blocks at the night with Del Vacchio dishing out 37 assists. Second year Sarah Ballek put her stamp on the game with six kills and seven block assists to round out the top efforts on a night where Del Vacchio picked up her 1,000 career assist and second year Nora Jones added her 500th dig defensively.

No rest for the weary as Hazleton hits the hardwood again on Friday night when the Lions travel to King's College for a local non-conference bout. First serve is set for 6:00 p.m.