Boxscore

PHILADELPHIA – The Goldey-Beacom College volleyball team played a very competitive first set, but could not keep up with Holy Family in the next two as the visiting Lightning were sent home with a 3-0 loss in their Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference opener on Tues. night at the Campus Center.

The Lightning (3-2, 0-1 CACC) nearly made a very strong comeback in the first set, losing by just six, 25-19, but they would go on to lose both the second and third sets by identical, 25-10 scores.

Freshman Tyla Wells, who came into the match ranked ninth in the CACC in kills, continued to impress with a team-high five kills to go with two block assists. Sophomore Catherine Howard (fifth in the CACC in blocks) added three blocks for the night, one was a solo job.

Sophomore setter Monica Dempsey (sixth in the CACC in assists) directed the offense with nine assists and also had a team-high 13 digs. Senior defensive specialist A.J. Hicks and junior outside hitter Roni Shaner pitched in defensively with nine and eight digs, respectively.

The Tigers were led by Jillian Keeve (15 kills, two service aces, 10 digs) and MacKenzie Bickes (eight service aces, 11 digs). As a team, they had 15 service aces, 36 kills and 62 digs.

Meanwhile, the Lightning had just 11 kills to 17 errors as they hit for a -.08 percentage. They struggled returning the serve of Bickes and Cara Przybylowicz (four service aces) all throughout the night as they committed 16 return errors.

GBC will try to bounce back on Thurs. night as they host CACC foe Chestnut Hill at the Jones Center at 7 p.m. for Youth Volleyball Night. The Lightning will honor its four players with over 1,000 digs before the game. They are: Clare Phillips (2002-05), Tessa Snyder (2003-06), Christine Hudock (2006-09) and Gabrielle Pownall-Brown (2001-03).