Freedom Conference Champions!                                    Lady Warriors Defeat Scranton for the Title

SCRANTON, Pa.—The women’s volleyball team defeated Scranton, 3-2, on Saturday to win the Freedom Conference Championship. As champion, the Lady Warriors receive an automatic bid to play in the NCAA Tournament.

Tournament MVP Lindsey Artz (Hegins, PA) led Lycoming with 28 kills for the match. After the Lady Warriors dropped the first game 30-21, Artz took charge. Her percentage of kills to attacks was an astounding .418 on the day. Lycoming won game two 30-24, but barely escaped game three 30-28. It appeared that The Lady Royals were not going to give in easily.

As Artz dominated, Scranton obviously missed their star player, Brooke Hinkley, who is recovering from an automobile accident. The Lady Royals still gutted out 11 blocks against a barrage of Lycoming attacks. Artz answered defensively with 19 digs, while sophomore Heather Frantz (Pine Grove, PA) gathered 18 digs.

Frantz brought the noise with 16 kills, while freshman setter Abby Myers (Shippensburg, PA) led all players with an incredible 61 assists all day. Myers also pinpointed three aces for the match.

Scranton rallied to take game four 30-23. But in the deciding set, Artz and Co. proved too much for the number one-seeded Lady Royals. The Lady Warriors prevailed 15-10. Lycoming will play their first 2006 NCAA Tournament match on Thursday, November 9 at Juniata College. The 3:30 p.m. match will pit the Lady Warriors against Haverford.

http://athletics.juniata.edu/wvolleyball/NCAARegional06.html