LEMONT FURNACE, Pennsylvania - The Lyon College Scots shook the nation over the past three days at the United States Collegiate Atheltic Association National Volleyball Championships in Pensylvania.
On Saturday afternoon, Lyon College played for the college's first volleyball national championship in the ever for a Scots team. Battling through a tough four-set match loss against Maine-Fort Kent, these strong women left everything they had on the court when it counted most.
After a season of adversity and successes, the Scots finished with a 19-18 overall record and are the second-best team of all the small colleges playing in the USCAA tournament. Proudly, they accepted the college's first national championship runner's up trophy under the direction of head coach
Kortney Cunningham, who is only in her second season at the helm.
The Scots, carrying momentum from a three-set win in the semifinals the day before, won the first set 25-13 out of the gate. However, Main-Fort Kent fought back to take the second set 27-25, the third set 30-28 and finally put the match away with a 25-16 win in set four.
In the first set, MFK led 2-1 before
Paeton Tucker got consecutive kills off of sets from
Madeline Hopson and
Keeley Beary combined with Tucker for a block point and a 4-2 lead. Fort Kent came back to tie the set, but had two errors to put the Scots back in front. Tucker had a service ace and
Janiya Vanderpool got a kill off a set from
Paeton Tucker to make it 9-5.
An attack error from MFK led to a kill from
Kylee Sabella off a set from
Isabella Beasley. Then a 9-0 run by the Scots put the set out of reach. Sabella got a kill, Beasley got kill off a Hopson set twice in the rally. Hopson set up
Bethany Williams for a kill and then Hopson served an ace for a 19-7 lead.
A block for a point and an ace serve from Sabella forced a MFK time out. Fort Key scored three points, but gave all three back to Lyon College on three errors. That all set up a kill from Vanderpool off a set from Beasley to end the set 25-13.
In the second set, the Scots ran out to a 4-0 lead with two kills from Beasley, one from Sabella off of sets from Hopson and a service error from MFK. Tucker got a kill on a Hopson set, and a block by Beary and Tucker made for a 9-6 Lyon College lead. Two more attack errors from Fort Kent led to another kill from Vanderpool off a set from Beasley. Beasley set up Williams for a kill and a bad set from Maine gave the Scots a 14-9 advantage.
Fort Kent came back to outscore Lyon 6-1 and tie the set at 15-15. Two errors from MFK and a kill from Tucker off a Hopson set put the the Scots up by three, but Maine came back to close to within one point. Tucker got another kill, but Fort Kent tied it with two consecutive points. Tucker got her third kill in a row for the lead, however MFK rallied for five straight points to lead 24-20.
Sabella started the charge back for the Scots with a kill, then Vanderpool got a kill and
Marti Flores served an ace. After a Fort Kent time out, Sabella got a kill and an attack error from MFK put Lyon College ahead 25-24. MFK ran off the final three points to win the set 27-25.
The Scots tried to turn the tide in the third set with their first two points coming off of errors by MFK. Fort Kent tied the set, but an attack error and a kill from Tucker put Lyon up by two early on. Maine came back to take a two point lead, but a kill from Beasley, an error on the attack by MFK, a service ace from Beasley and another attack error put the Scots back in front 8-6.
Three straight kills from Sabella and a kill from Vanderpool made for a 12-7 advantage, but back came Fort Kent to get to within one point. Sabella got another kill, and Williams followed suit with a kill off a set from Hopson. Sabella kept up the momentum with another kill from a set by Hopson and Beasley got a kill off a set from Flores to make it an 18-13 Scots' lead.
Over the next few minutes, each team swapped points with Beasley getting the only kill and Lyon College led 23-18. MFK went on a six point run to overtake the Scots and lead by one. A few minutes later, Williams put Lyon back in front with a kill off a Hopson set. Beasley got two kills as the teams went back and forth with points, but the Scots led 28-27, but MFK got two kills and a service ace to close out the third set, 30-28.
That third set seemed to be the turning point of the match as MFK ran the momentum to a 3-0 lead in the fourth set and moved out to an 8-1 lead. Sabella got a kill off a Hopson set, Vanderpool picked up a kill, Sabella followed with another kill and an attack error put the Scots back in the contest. Still down four, Beary got a kill for Lyon, then Vanderpool followed with a kill off a set from Beasley.
Fort Kent scored three times in a row, but the Scots battled back with a kill from Beasley and two kills by Sabella all off of Hopson sets to make it a 15-12 score. MFK scored the next three points before
Claire Carothers got a kill for Lyon. Beasley followed that with a kill, but three more points ran the score up to 22-14. Vanderpool got a kill off a Beasley set, but Fort Kent scored three out of the next four points to win the match, 25-16.
After three straight days of national championship volleyball, the Scots finished second in the USCAA for 2023.
