The Behrend women’s volleyball team came into AMCC Tournament having won five out of their last six matches and only losing twice in the entire month of October. They were one of the hottest teams in the AMCC and were able to capture the conference’s number one seed, meaning they had home court throughout the two-day tournament. The team rode their hot streak to a narrow victory in the semi-finals, but the finals were a different story.

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The weekend started out with the Lions taking on the LaRoche Redhawks in the Junker Center. In the first set, no team could muster greater than a four-point lead. With the score at 18-15, Behrend swung the momentum in their favor by scoring six straight points with the help of Lexi Irwin and Keely Hering. The Lions did not relinquish their lead and won the set 25-21. The second set was virtually identical to the first, only the roles were reversed. It was LaRoche who came back from a seven-point lead to win the set. That was a wake-up call for the Lions, as they won the next two sets by healthy margins to advance to the AMCC Championship.

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The aforementioned Irwin scored 12 kills and led the team in assists with 34. Amanda Henry was additionally solid, leading the team with 15 kills and obtaining 13 digs. Madison Clapper and Zara Collars additionally came in clutch with 24 and 18 digs, respectively.

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Sunday’s final round against the Pitt-Bradford Panthers was an entirely different narrative for the Lions. As expected, this match was tightly contested and intense. The match started off well enough with Behrend claiming the first two sets by scores of 25-18 and 25-15, respectively. The Lions had to overcome an early deficit in the first set, but were able to control play throughout the second set. It was at this point that Pitt-Bradford amped up their game. The third set came down to the wire after several lead changes and ties. During the first match point for the Panthers, Henry kept the set alive with a crucial kill. However, the Panthers got the next two points on two Riley Anderson kills. The Panthers kept their momentum going in the third set with a ten-point win, leading to a close tiebreaker set, which Pitt-Bradford ultimately captured. It was Pitt-Bradford’s second conference title in the last three years and the third overall.

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Statistics were abundant in this match. Henry, along with Kristin Reiland, led the team with 15 kills and also had 14 digs. Clapper led the team with 30 digs and served up two aces. Alex Parra and Hering chipped in 7.5 points each, while Irwin piled up 39 total assists, 12 digs and eight kills.

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The Lions are scheduled to take on Wilkes in the first round of the ECAC South Regional tournament this Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Junker Center.