by Christina Roukas

ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona women's volleyball team won against non-conference opponent Lycoming College on Friday night in a 3-0 match (25-5, 25-18, 25-13) in the Adler Arena.

On top of the clean sweep, Penn State Altoona honored its four seniors, outside hitter Lydia Mock (Alum Bank, PA/Chestnut Ridge), libero Erin Lutz (State College, PA/State College), setter Kayla Moran (Boalsburg, PA/State College), and middle Taylor Kilmer (Julian, PA/Bald Eagle), in a pre-match ceremony for Senior Night.

The Lions (10-11) played a strong first set. Taylor Myers (Morrisdale, PA/West Branch) served an ace to extend an early Lions lead to eight points, 10-2. One play after a timeout, Mock scored a kill to make it 11-3. The Lions used a 10-point scoring run against Lycoming (11-13) to take a 17-point advantage, 20-3. Lacee Barnhart (Bellefonte, PA/Bald Eagle) scored a kill to make it 21-4, and the Lions closed out the first set with a 20-point win, 25-5.

In the second set, Lycoming responded by taking a 6-3 lead. Kilmer's kill lowered the Altoona deficit two, 6-4, and Mock scored a kill to tie the match, 14-14. Altoona took its first lead of the set at 15-14 and continued to expand its advantage after that. Barnhart's kill made it 24-18, and Mock scored a kill to close the set, 25-18. 

Altoona started the third set off on a 5-0 run. Kilmer scored a kill to keep the Lions' lead at five points, 10-5, and Moran's dump made it 13-8. Mock recorded a kill to put her team up 21-13, and Barnhart's push made it 24-13. Lycoming committed an attack error on the next point, and Altoona won the third set 25-13 to clinch the sweep.

Mock led all players on the night with 12 points and 12 kills while posting a team-high 13 digs. Barnhart contributed 11 points on 11 kills with 11 digs. Myers also had 8.5 points with seven kills, and Kilmer totaled four points on four kills.

Moran led all players in assists with 27 and also had four digs and three kills. Lutz recorded 10 digs.

As a team, Penn State Altoona committed a season-low seven attack errors while compiling a .294 hitting percentage, the squad's second-best attack percentage this season.

The Penn State Altoona women's volleyball team finishes its regular season schedule tomorrow, as the Lions' next match is at home on Saturday, October 29 against Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Alfred State College. The match is set to start at 11:00 a.m.