LANGHORNE, PA- The women's volleyball team competed in their East Region tri-match, Wednesday, October 8.  The Lady Patriots first went up against Cairn University followed by Lancaster Bible College.  The women were outplayed by both schools and dropped each match, 0-3.

First up for the afternoon was host school, Cairn University.  The Lady Patriots match the Highlanders point-for-point in the beginning but simple mental error seemed to cause havoc on the teams focus.  The Highlanders went on a solid run against Valley Forge, taking set one, 12-25.  As the second set got underway, the Lady Patriots put up more of a fight, correcting their attacking errors and securing their defensive system.  Despite keeping up with the Highlanders for the majority of the game, the women couldn't match the veteran team's hitting power and fell in set two, 17-25.  Despite a better second set, the women reverted to their old ways and mirrored the errors in set one to lag behind and drop the third set and match, 12-25.

Next on the agenda was Lancaster Bible College.  Midway through the first set the Lady Patriots finally started to wake up but by that time it was too late to overcome the severe point deficit against the Chargers.  Unable to string together points of their own, the Lady Patriots dropped set one, 11-25. 
Set two the Lady Patriots demonstrated the type of volleyball the team is capable of.  The women displayed a strong block and cleaned up the defense to frustrate the Chargers' offense.  After staying even with Chargers for the first five points the women started to push the tempo a little too much and hit a combination of miscues.  After a short timeout the women gathered themselves and pulled together a series of points to keep right on the heels of the Chargers. 

The women remained just a few points behind and refused the let up, pushing the set beyond the 25^th points.  Unable to overcome the errors displayed early on in the set, the Lady Patriots gave up set two, 24-26.

Once again the third set proved to be a problem.  Feeling the fatigue of the previous five sets, the women competed as hard as they could but could not overcome the experience of the Chargers.  Drawing out the rallies for as long as they could, the women seemed unable to finish the ball to gain the point.  As the Chargers capitalized on Valley Forge's mistakes, the Lady Patriots watched as the set and match went to the Chargers, 12-25.

With the two match loss, the Lady Patriots get the third seed for the regional playoffs, Saturday, October 25.

The women take a small break before heading into the last stretch of the regular season.  On Tuesday, October 14, the team will travel to Central Penn College for a 7PM game.

Go Patriots!