CHESTER, Pa. (Oct. 19, 2016) – Sophomore Nicole Dorman (East Norriton, Pa.) racked up 21 kills as the Widener University volleyball team won a pivotal Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth match by a close 3-0 score over Lycoming on Wednesday evening at the Schwartz Center. The Pride were victorious by set scores of 27-25, 30-28 and 25-22 in a seesaw match that had 33 ties and 15 lead changes.
 
The back-and-forth opening set featured 13 ties and six exchanges of the lead. Despite trailing by a 10-8 score, the Pride got a kill from sophomore Natalie Winn (San Marcos, Calif.) which kickstarted a streak of eight unanswered points. Lycoming, however, rattled off seven in a row and went ahead by a 17-16 score on a perfectly placed serve by Catherine Burger that landed right between two of the Pride's defensive specialists. Morris added another ace to put the Warriors ahead and made it 24-23, but the momentum swung the other way when freshman Caroline Dangel's (Eldersburg, Md.) ball off a serve receive arced perfectly over the net and landed on the floor. The Pride used the bounce in their direction to eventually win the set, as senior captain Sabrina Barbieri (Glen Mills, Pa.) broke a 25-all tie with a kill and then set up Winn for the dagger.
 
Barbieri continued her hot streak by recording aces on the opening two rallies of a tight second set. Even though the Warriors recovered and built up an 8-2 lead, the hosts came storming back and got a kill from junior Lauren Daly (Springfield, Pa.) followed by two straight aces from Dorman to move ahead by a 12-11 score. Lycoming then regained the lead and had three chances to put the Pride away on set point, but the hosts just would not go away. Barbieri set up Dorman for two straight kills before Kristine Jahn committed an attacking error to give the Pride the thrilling 30-28 triumph.
 
The third set was also close and had an additional eight ties and three lead swings before it was all over. Despite trailing for most of the set, the Pride stayed within striking distance and took a 21-20 lead on an attacking miscue by Tayler Whitman. The hosts never trailed the rest of the way and finished the set and the match when Daly set up Winn for a kill.
 
Dorman smashed 21 kills and committed just six errors on 52 swings to finish the evening with a .288 hitting percentage for Widener. She also had two aces. Kalinock finished with nine kills and three blocks, while Dangel led three players with double-digit kills and matched a career high with 15. Freshman Ashley McAfee (Abington, Pa.) and senior Lauren Elliott (Aston, Pa.) notched 12 and 10 digs, respectively.
 
Lycoming (14-16, MAC Commonwealth 3-4) was paced by Jahn's 14-kill performance. Burger added 22 assists, three digs and two service aces, and Emily Hepner led the defensive effort with 14 digs.
 
Widener (11-16, MAC Commonwealth 3-3), which is closing in on a playoff berth, returns to action when it visits Hood on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at 7:00 p.m.