WORCESTER, Mass. – The Holy Cross Crusaders hosted the Lafayette volleyball team Saturday afternoon, resulting in a Leopards' victory (25-14, 25-23, 25-21, 25-14, 15-13) in five sets.

The Leopards grabbed an 8-4 lead to begin the match after back-to-back kills by sophomore middle blocker Irelynd Lorenzen. The San Diego, Calif. native finished the day with 13 kills. Outside hitters Carol Ulichney and Abby Nieporte also had big days up front for Lafayette, recording 13 and 12 kills respectively. Lorenzen eventually finished off a dominant opening set with a kill.

Abbie Lane had a big second set for the Crusaders, leading them to a narrow 25-23 win. The Leopards had two less attack errors than Holy Cross (7-5), but the hosts tallied three more kills than the Maroon and White (14-11). Lane tied the contest at 23 apiece with a service ace and then a kill by Gabby Wold and a Leopard error ended the second period.

Nieporte got back to work in the third set, leading all players with four kills. The first 14 points were distributed evenly (7-7) right before Holy Cross put together a 3-1 spurt. The Leopards trailed 13-12 before a 4-1 run, courtesy of errors by the Crusaders and a kill by Lorenzen to put them back on top, 16-14. Sophomore outside hitter Emma Patmon and Nieporte did great work down the stretch to keep Holy Cross at bay. Lafayette took the third set, 25-21.

The hosts showed great resilience in the fourth period. Lauren Halverson (5) and Lane (5) combined for 10 kills and the team hit a monstrous .379 up front. The Crusaders also had four rejections compared to Lafayette's zero. Holy Cross took the fourth set, 25-14, through a Lily Eigner ace.

The final set lived up to the hype with nine tie scores and five lead changes. The initial 14 points were back-and-forth, but a kill by Halverson and some errors by Lafayette handed the hosts a 12-8 lead. The Maroon and White quickly responded with a 4-0 run to tie the match at 12 apiece thanks to a kill by Ulichney and some Crusaders' errors. Nieporte, Ulichney and Lorenzen all notched huge kills in crunch time to grant Lafayette its second conference victory of the season.

Junior libero Emily Gouldrup (18) and Patmon (16) put in a great effort on defense, combining for 34 digs. Junior middle blocker Hannah Ehrich-Pollock, Lorenzen and Nieporte were threats up front all afternoon, all notching three block assists.

Lafayette will play its final game of the season at 4 p.m. on Saturday as it ventures to Army.


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