The Lincoln University women's volleyball team came up short in their match against University of the Sciences Thursday night, falling to the Devils 3-0 at Manuel Rivero Hall.

All three sets were close as the Devils prevailed 25-21, 25-22 and 28-26.  The Lions fall to 3-12 overall with the loss while USciences improves to 4-10.

Aubury Coleman (Mason City, Iowa/ Mason City) led Lincoln with 14 kills while Mariah Russell (St Louis Mo./Maplewood Richmond Heights) added nine and also recorded four aces.   On the defensive end, Tymera Crudup (Barnegat, N.J./Barnegat) had 18 digs and Mikhi Wright (Philadelphia, Pa./Philadelphia HS for Girls) had two blocks.

Dakota Raymond led the Devils with nine kills and Sarah Miller had five of the team's eight aces.  Rhiannon Comia and Elizabeth Checca had 11 and 10 digs respectively.  Simran Sangu led USciences with four blocks.

The Devils jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening set before a 6-1 run by the Lions erased the deficit and put Lincoln ahead 6-5. Neither team could pull away as the set wore on and after two lead changes the Lions opened up a 20-18 lead.  The Devils then closed out the set with a 7-1 flourish to lead the match 1-0.

Miller had four consecutive aces in the second set as the Devils opened up an early 5-3 lead and expanded it to 15-8, forcing a Lincoln timeout.  Coming out of the timeout the Lions started whittling away at the Devils' lead, closing within four on a pair of aces from Kaylarose Scott (Orange, N.J./Hudson Catholic), 15-11 and later cutting the margin to two 18-16 via a USciences attack error.  Five rallies later a kill from Coleman closed the deficit to on 20-19.  The Lions still trailed by one at 22-21 when the Devils closed out the second set, scoring three of the final four points to win 25-22 to take a 2-0 lead.

In the third set the Lions scored the first three points and opened up an 8-4 lead before the Devils rallied to tie the game at 9-9 and take their first lead of the set at 13-12.  Kills from Wright and Russell put the Lions back on top at 14-13.  USciences tied the score three times before an ace from Tierra Russaw (Westland, Mich./Summit Academy) gave the Lions a two-point advantage 20-18.  Lincoln still led by two 22-20 before the Devils scored three straight to retake the lead 23-22.  Two Lincoln points followed and the Lions were one point away from taking the set when USci's Checca recorded a kill to tie the set at 24-24.  Both teams exchanged points before the Devils pulled away to win the set 28-26 and the match 3-0.

The Lions return to action on Monday, October 16, 2017 when they host Chowan University at 5:00 p.m. and Elizabeth City State University at 7:00 p.m.