EASTON, Pa. – The Fairleigh Dickinson volleyball team fell to Lafayette in its first game of the Lafayette/Lehigh Tournament.
 
The Knights fell in the first two sets by scores of 26-24 before coming back to dominate the third set and win it 25-8. The fourth set proved to be another close one but Fairleigh Dickinson fell 25-20 to end the match with a 3-1 loss.
 
In the first set, the Knights got on the board first with a kill from Annabel Reyes (Teaneck, N.J./Immaculate Heart Academy) but the Leopards went on to score three in a row to take the lead. After trading points for a few plays, the Knights tied the set at 4-4 on an Abigail Strebig (Brookfield, Wi./Brookfield Central) kill. The Knights took an eventual 13-8 lead before Lafayette slowly started chipping away. Fairleigh Dickinson held the Leopards off and took a 23-17 lead before Lafayette went on to score seven straight points, resulting in a 24-23 lead. The Knights tied the game 24-24 but Lafayette scored two straight points and won with a block from Carly Kutschke and Jet Manzi.
 
In the second set, two straight kills from Taylor Wyckoff (San Diego, Calif./Clairemont) put the Knights in the lead. The Leopards built an 8-3 lead and led by as many as seven points. Fairleigh Dickinson started to come back and eventually tied the set at 23-23 and again at 24-24. Much like the first set, the Leopards scored two points in a row on two straight kills from Sonia Musso to win the set and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The third set was much different for the Knights, who dominated from the start. The game was tied at 2-2 before Fairleigh Dicksinon scored 10 straight points to take a 12-2 lead. The teams traded points until the Knights went on another run, scoring eight points in a row. The Knights scored on a kill from Rebecca Sabol (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) and benefitted from an attack error to win the third set 25-8 and force a fourth set.
 
In the fourth and final set, the Knights got on the board first and took a 2-0 lead before the Leopards came back to quickly tie things up. Lafayette took an 8-4 lead, but the Knights tied things up at 9-9. The Leopards built a 19-14 lead, the biggest of the set. Despite the Knights scoring three points in a row and bringing the score within three, 23-20, the Leopards scored two points in a row to end the set and the match.
 
Rebecca Sabol (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) led the Knights with 11 kills and five aces. Freshmen Annabel Reyes (Teaneck, N.J./Immaculate Heart Academy) and Abigail Strebig (Brookfield, Wi./Brookfield Central) each had five blocks against the Leopards. Freshman Kirstin Trabert (Corona, Calif./Norco) had 23 assists and junior Carly O'Sullivan (Bogota, N.J./Bogota) recorded 21 digs.
 
Fairleigh Dickinson is back in action tomorrow. The first game against Providence is slated for a 1 p.m. start at Lafayette. The Knights will then travel the short distance to Lehigh to play the Mountain Hawks at 4 p.m. The match against Lehigh will be streamed on the Patriot League Network, free of charge.