IMMACULATA, Pa. - The Immaculata University women's volleyball team played a wire-to-wire, three-set match in its home-opener against Penn St. Berks Friday night, but could not keep pace with the Nittany Lions in a straight-set defeat. After coming up just short in a back-and-forth first set, the Mighty Macs were unable to overcome the early deficit solid performances from Olivia Zdradzinski and Madi Curley.

With the defeat, the Macs fall to 2-3 in the early stages of the 2018 season.

HOW IT HAPPENED
-The Macs and Nittany Lions played a gritty first set to start the night off, as the Macs jumped out to an early 8-3 lead. IU then ripped off three-straight points to stretch the lead to seven, forcing Berks into its first timeout.
-The Nittany Lions climbed all the way back to knot the set at 18-all, part of a 8-0 run that gave them their first lead of the match since the first point of the set.
-Down four and needing a rally, the Macs got kills from Zdradzinski and Margart Hawbaker along with a pair of Gerri Passalacqua aces to retake the lead, 23-22.
-After a back-and-forth battle ensued, the Nittany Lions rallied for three-straight points to take the first set, 28-26.
-Penn St. Berks took the second set 25-16, in which the Macs only held the lead at the 2-1 mark.
-The third set resembled the first set in many ways, as the two sides exchanged back-and-forth rallies. Berks was able to rip off a 4-0 run to take a 16-10 lead, before the Macs stormed back with a 5-0 run of their own to save their chances in the set, cutting the deficit to 23-19. Hawbaker recorded four-straight points while she was serving.
-The Macs continued their comeback to make it a 24-22 game thanks to a Natalie Dependahl kill, but Berks was able to put it away with a kill of its own.

TEAM COMPARISON
-Berks led the way with 35 kills on the night, with the Macs coming in a 32.
-The Nittany Lions also paced IU with four blocks in the match.
-IU came up just short in service aces to the Nittany Lions at 12-8.
-Berks also held the advantage in digs, 61-56.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
-Kills: Zdradzinski/Belk 8
-Aces: Passalacqua 5
-Assists: Curley 14, Zdradzinski 7
-Digs: Dependahl 12, Hawbaker 11, Zdradzinski 10

UP NEXT
Immaculata (2-3) finishes the week by hosting Manhattanville Friday night at 7 p.m. from Alumnae Hall.