CHESTER, Pa. (Sept. 29, 2016) – Senior captain Sabrina Barbieri (Glen Mills, Pa.) and sophomore Nicole Dorman (East Norriton, Pa.) each recorded a double-double, but the Widener University volleyball team fell to DeSales by a 3-1 decision on Thursday night at the Schwartz Center. Set scores were 19-25, 17-25, 25-23 and 17-25.
 
DeSales (11-6) started the opening set on a roll by scoring the first six and nine of the first 10 points. Cristal Fernandez had two service aces during the opening four rallies as well as a kill to put the Bulldogs in control. Widener attempted to rally and slashed an 11-point deficit down to four on consecutive kills by Dorman which were set up by Barbieri, but the visitors recovered and took advantage of poor hitting by the Pride to move back ahead by a 20-15 score and force a timeout. Another Pride error on set point gave the Bulldogs the opening set.
 
Widener (7-10) took an early lead at 4-1 in the second frame before the Bulldogs bounced back to create a seesaw affair. After 11 ties and five lead changes, DeSales established the upper hand when a service ace by Gabby Savite made it 16-15 in favor of the guests. The Bulldogs would then close the set out on a 12-3 run, which was capped by two straight kills by Jess Swanson.
 
The beginning of the third set was evenly matched and featured four ties. Widener, however, took control this time when junior Lauren Daly (Springfield, Pa.) smashed a kill to spark a 7-1 run for the hosts. Dorman contributed six kills and nine digs in the frame, which included scoring the deciding point, to help the Pride edge out their opponent by a 25-23 score and extend the match into a fourth set.
 
Widener continued to fight back and took leads of 3-2 and 4-3 on a service ace by freshman Liz Kwon (Ellicott City, Md.) and a kill by sophomore Kierston Forney (Manassas, Va.), respectively, but the Bulldogs recovered and went on a 12-5 run to prompt a timeout by the hosts. The Pride would come no closer than four points the rest of the way, as the match would end on a service error that landed behind the line.
 
Barbieri paced Widener with 35 assists and 12 digs to go along with five kills, while Dorman recorded 17 kills and 15 assists in the setback. Senior Lauren Elliott (Aston, Pa.) contributed double-digit digs with 13 and also had two aces.
 
DeSales was led by Gabby Savite's double-double effort. She had 16 kills and 14 digs. Lisa Wallitsch finished with 49 kills, eight digs and four aces, and Morghan Shoemaker also tallied 16 kills to help the Bulldogs earn the win.
 
Widener will play two more Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom opponents on Saturday, Oct. 1 when it travels to Lebanon Valley to face FDU-Florham at 11:00 a.m. and Misericordia at 2:00 p.m.