BEHREND WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL WINS FIRST NCAA SET BEFORE FALLING TO LA VERNE

The No. 2 University of La Verne (26-2) women's volleyball team advances to the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament with a 3-1 win over Penn State Behrend (22-8) on Thursday afternoon at Johns Hopkins University. La Verne defeated Penn State Behrend by scores of 23-25, 25-5, 25-5, 25-3.

The Behrend Lions registered their first set win in the NCAA Tournament in program history. In the first set that featured eight ties, Behrend broke the last tie at 22-all with winning the final three points. La Verne forced the Lions to a timeout with its largest lead at 16-13. Behrend battled back to tie the set at 21-all with a block before taking a 23-22 lead with a kill from Alani Salas-Garcia and an attack error by Mya Rya. A kill from Hannah Smith put the Lions a point away from winning the set at 24-22 and making the Leopards take its last time out. With Cadence Jones serving, Behrend won the set off her fourth kill to take a 1-0 lead in the match. La Verne took a 6-1 lead in the second set and only allowed four more points by the Lions for a 25-5 win to even the match. The third and fourth set was similar to the second with the Leopards jumping out to a nine-point lead and finished at 25-5 and 25-3, respectively. Salas-Garcia tallied seven kills in the first set and finished with a team-best nine. Sara Nobach finished her career with eight digs and Jones added seven kills and four digs. Brynne Smith dished out 22 assists, including 15 in set one