Paxton, Mass. - September 7, 2021 - Junior McKenna Crosby (Jonesborough, Tenn.) registered a team-best 10 kills and hit .500 as the Mount Holyoke College volleyball team rolled to a 3-0 win over Anna Maria at the Fuller Center on Tuesday evening.

With the win, the Lyons improve to 1-2 on the year, while the AMCATS fall to 1-4 overall. Mount Holyoke College won by the set scores of 25-15, 25-16, 25-15.

Crosby was efficient in the middle as the junior picked up 10 kills on 18 swings and added a dig. The junior was vital down the stretch, picking up four of the Lyons' final six points to close out the match. Senior Sarah Bishop (Rutland, Mass.), finished with eight kills and two digs, while classmate Gabi Davis (Keller, Texas) added seven kills on 13 swings, hitting .462. Junior Marion Abeja (Kumi, Uganda) also had six kills, four digs and a solo block in the win.

Senior libero Chelsea Galicia (Altadena, Calif.) had a team-best 22 digs and was effective from the service line, leading the Lyons with seven service aces. Senior setter Brayden Walden (McKinney, Texas) handed out 28 assists and directed the Mount Holyoke College offense to a .282 hitting percentage.

Galicia started the Lyons off with a service ace early in the first set that gave the visitors control of the contest, before a three-point spurt in the middle of the match gave Mount Holyoke College a 15-10 lead. Clinging to that three-point lead late in the frame, Crosby delivered a kill to grant the Lyons a 21-15 advantage, before back-to-back kills sealed the 25-15 first-set win for Mount Holyoke.

A pair of service aces from Galicia early in the second set helped the Lyons to a 4-1 lead, before kills from Bishop and Crosby pushed the Lyons lead to 7-3 in the early goings of the frame. The AMCATS then crawled to within one before Mount Holyoke College answered with back-to-back kills from Lucie Berclaz (Kyogo, Japan) and Abeja to make it 10-7, visitors. Davis delivered a pair of kills midway through the set to make it 16-10, Mount Holyoke, before an ace from Chloe Wang (Tampa, Fla.) granted the Lyons a 19-11 advantage. Walden was impressive to close out the frame, picking up a pair of aces sandwiched around a kill from Abeja to help the Lyons to a 25-16 victory.

The Lyons rode the hot serving of Galicia in the third set as two service aces and kills from Bishop, Davis and Crosby fueled an early 7-0 run in the set to give Mount Holyoke College a 10-3 advantage. The Lyons maintained that seven-point lead until the middle of the set when Crosby delivered a kill to make it 15-7. Leading 21-14, Mount Holyoke closed out the game on four kills from Crosby in the final six points to seal the 25-15 win.

Mount Holyoke College will return home to Howard Gymnasium on Saturday, September 11 as the Lyons will host Cobleskill and Framingham State in a tri-match beginning at 11 a.m.

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Photo courtesy of Brian Foley.