NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- It took five sets and a couple of match points, but the MCLA volleyball team Wednesday held off a gritty Mount Holyoke squad at the Amsler Campus Center 19-25, 25-21, 25-19, 18-25, 17-15.

 

Tied at 15 all, the Lyons (1-2) used a 10-4 run to close out the first set and jump out to a 1-0 lead. The Trailblazers (3-1) bounced back to take the next two sets, never trailing in the third and finishing on a strong 8-2 run to go ahead 2 sets to 1.

 

After a pair of Mount Holyoke errors midway through the 4th set, MCLA took a 14-8 lead and was seemingly in control of the set and match. But the Lyons refused to quit catching the Trailblazers at 16-all on a kill by senior middle hitter McKenna Crosby. Classmate Marion Abeja followed that with three straight aces helping Mount Holyoke to ultimately pull away for the 25-18 fourth set decision, evening the match at two sets apiece.

 

MCLA first-year outside hitter Elizabeth Brown of Lee opened the scoring in with a kill and a Mount Holyoke error would give the Trailblazers an early 2-0 lead. An Abeja kill and an MCLA error drew the Lyons back to even. When Mount Holyoke edged ahead 7-5, first year middle hitter Anais Badio came up huge with a kill and service ace on consecutive points to pull the Trailblazers even.

 

MCLA mad another push jumping out to a 12-10 lead after a kill by sophomore middle hitter Julia Graham and a Brown service ace. But again, the Lyons would tie the set at 12. From there the two teams would trade the next six points until when, tied at 15-15, another Brown kill, and a Mount Holyoke attack error would give the set to the Trailblazers 17-15 and the match 3 sets to 2.

 

Reigning MASCAC Player of the Week sophomore Chloie Garber and Brown led MCLA with 11 kills each. Four Trailblazers were in double-figures in digs led by sophomore Elie Walter-Goodspeed with 17. First year Shannon O'Brien led both teams with 31 assists.

 

MCLA will be on the road as well heading north to Norwich University for a Saturday tri-match. The Trailblazers will take on the host Cadets at 11 a.m. followed by a match against Wentworth.