LYCOMING VOLLEYBALL WILL CHALLENGE SCRANTON FOR CONFERENCE TITLE

WILLIAMSPORT, PA – The Lycoming College volleyball team (24-10) will host the University of Scranton (20-13), Saturday evening, for the Freedom Conference championship. The match will begin at 7 p.m. in Lamade Gymnasium. Ticket prices for the event are: $4 for adults, $3 for senior citizens, and $2 for students. This is a Middle Atlantic Corporation event – only MAC passes will be accepted – all other spectators must pay admission.

The Warriors entered the Freedom Conference tournament as the top seed with a regular-season conference mark of 6-0. The squad then defeated defending champion King’s College in three straight games to advance to the title match. The Royals are the third seed in the tournament with a conference record of 4-2. They advanced to the championship by outlasting FDU-Florham in five games, Wednesday evening.

Lycoming is led by two-time all-conference player and former player of the year Layne Haverstock (Sr./Hesston, Pa.; Huntingdon). Haverstock averages a team- and conference-high 4.7 kills per game, while adding 3.5 digs and 0.8 blocks per game. She has also recorded a team-high 69 service aces this season. Complimenting Haverstock on the outside is junior Kelli Watson (East Freedom, Pa.; Central). Watson averages 3.1 kills and 2.1 digs per game.

Freshman Lindsey Artz (Hegins, Pa.; Tri-Valley) has also played a key role for the Warriors, leading the team in blocks with better than one per game, while also chipping in 2.5 kills per game and 51 aces during the season. Junior Seneca Reilly (Athens, Pa.; Athens) sets the table for the hitters, leading the conference in assists in 2003 with an average of nearly 11 per game. Reilly also has 63 aces on the season and averages 2.4 digs per game.

Scranton is led by Marta DeLong (Jr./Downingtown, Pa.; Villa Maria Academy) and Krista Hylinski (Sr./Norristown, Pa.; Kennedy-Kenrick). DeLong leads the team in kills, averaging 3.5 per game, and is second in both digs and blocks, averaging 2.4 and 0.5 per game respectively. Hylinski leads the Royals in digs with 2.6 per game and in blocks with 0.8 per game.

Sophomore Kim McManus (Cincinnati, Ohio; Mt. Notre Dame) adds 2.3 kills per game, while leading the squad with 75 service aces on the season. Cassie Dyer (So./Lafayette Hill, Pa.; Mt. St. Joseph’s) is Scranton’s top setter, averaging nearly 10 assists per game.

Lycoming and Scranton met four times during the regular season. The Royals defeated the Warriors in their first meeting of the season in five games at a tournament hosted by Gettysburg College. Lycoming got revenge three weeks later, sweeping Scranton in three games at the Warrior Classic in Lamade Gym. The Warriors made it two in a row versus the Royals winning in four games, again at Lycoming, the second weekend in October. Finally, the Warriors defeated the Royals, again in four games, in Scranton on October 22, for their official conference match.