Box Score
BEL AIR, Md.—The Harford women's volleyball took a 2-1 lead but couldn't manage a third set as it fell in a five-set heartbreaker, 3-2 (20-25, 25-15, 26-28, 25-12, 15-11) to Cecil on Monday night at Susquehanna Center.
Neither team had a great night from the floor, with the Fighting Owls (4-18, 2-7 MDJUCO) posting a .045 hitting percentage for the match and the Seahawks (3-12, 3-8 MDJUCO) hitting at a .101 clip.
Freshman Lydia Zeller (Fawn Grove, Pa./Kennard-Dale) led the anemic offense, tallying a double-double on the night with 15 kills and 16 digs, while freshman Jaclyn Hall (Bel Air, Md./Bel Air) also put up a double-double with 23 assists and 13 digs.
Rebecca Stoffer led Cecil with 17 kills on 39 attacks with just one error for a .410 hitting percentage while also adding 12 digs, six aces and one assisted and solo block each. Ashley Gilbert also saw double-figures in two categories as she totaled 28 assists and 10 digs.
The teams would trade points for the majority of the first set until a three-point serving run behind freshman Rebecca Wysocki (Bel Air, Md./Bel Air) and a two-point run behind sophomore Ashlyn Tapler (Jarrettsville, Md./North Harford) after a Cecil sideout put the Owls up, 14-12. The Seahawks would knot the score once more, at 14 points and the teams would trade points a few more times before Hall's kill sparked a 5-0 run behind sophomore Nicole Brewer's (Street, Md./North Harford) serve that put Harford up, 21-15 on the way to the 25-20 set win.
Set two saw Cecil take a 4-0 lead behind Gilbert's serve, but Harford would keep it close, even leading by as much as two points before the Seahawks battled back to tie the score at 10 points each. An ace by Jessica Behnke would give Cecil its final lead of the set and they would build a two-point, 15-13 advantage before a Stoffer kill started a 7-0 rally on the way to the 25-15 win.
In a third set which saw eight ties and four lead changes, Harford would control the set early and lead by as many as four points, 18-14, before the Seahawks clawed their way back and tied the score at 19 points. Four ties and three lead changes later, Cecil would be up, 24-23, before head coach Jason Colangelo called for a timeout and iced the Seahawks, who committed a blocking error while serving for the set, and tied the score at 24. Cecil would see two more set point chances, but would fall short after a bad set by Gilbert to tie the score at 25 and a kill by Brewer to knot the score at 26. Zeller would follow with a kill behind Tapler's serve to give Harford a 27-26 lead before Tapler finished the set off with a service ace on the way to the 28-26 set win.
The Owls could not find their stroke in set four and had just four kills on 27 attacks while committing seven errors as Cecil easily rolled to the 25-12 set win.
The final set once again saw the Seahawks with a substantial, lead, as Cecil was on top, 6-2 before the Owls called a timeout. Colangelo's words of wisdom failed to inspire this time around, however, as the Seahawks built their lead to seven points, 12-5. Harford looked to be finished, but after another timeout, the Owls got some momentum going and cut the deficit to three, 12-9, but couldn't hold off Cecil on the way to the 15-11 set and match loss.
The Fighting Owls return to action on Friday when they kick-off a three-match homestand as they host Anne Arundel for a 7:00 p.m. match at Susquehanna Center.
