Lynn University Fighting Knights

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.—Lynn University’s volleyball team split a pair of games with a 3-1 victory over Texas A&M International and then a 3-0 loss to No. 25 Wheeling Jesuit in record breaking day one of the 6^th Annual Shark Classic on Friday. In game one against TAMIU Lynn totaled 28 block assists to tie the all-time record at Lynn while Shannon Dugan and Briana Cox both set new career-highs.

In set number one of game number one, the Blue & White came out to an early 2-0 lead before the Dust Devils of TAMIU tied things up at 2-2. The match went back and forth and was tied again at 10-10 after a Brittany Brown kill.

TAMIU then opened up its biggest lead of the set up 19-15 then again up 21-17. Down by four, the Fighting Knights rallied to tie it up at 22 but fell 26-24. In the loss, the Knights totaled six block assists while Lizzy Raffa led Lynn with five kills.

Set two saw a very different result for the Fighting Knights. After the match was tied at six, Lynn posted a 13-3 run to amass an impressive 19-9 tilt over the Dust Devils. Lynn closed out the set and tied the overall match with a 25-15 victory in set two. The Lynn defense held TAMIU to a negative hitting percentage with 10 block assists in the set.

With the overall match tied at 1-1 and the momentum in favor of Lynn, Angie Caple and Shannon Dugan led the Blue to a 2-1 advantage in the overall match with a 25-20 win in the third set. Dugan collected five kills on a .400 hitting percentage while Caple added four kills and a stellar .571 hitting mark.

After a 14-14 tie in set three, Lynn collected the next three points and forced a TAMIU timeout. Out of the timeout and up 17-15, LU closed out the set with an 8-3 run.

Up two sets to one, the Fighting Knights then posted their largest margin of victory for the match with a 25-11 romping of the Dust Devils in set four. Brown led Lynn with five kills as Briana Cox totaled three blocks in the set.

For the match, Dugan posted a career-bests in hitting percentage with a .417 mark and digs with 16. The sophomore collected a double-double with 12 kills as well. Cox also set a career mark with seven block assists. Brown and Raff also added double-digit kills with 10 each in the match.

A couple hours later, LU faced the No. 25 Wheeling Jesuit Cardinals and fell in straight sets. In set one, Lynn tied things up at four after a Wheeling Jesuit service error but then suffered a 6-1 run from the Cardinals and forced a Fighting Knights timeout. Lynn could not stop the bleeding, however, and fell behind 20-10 and eventually dropped the set by a 25-17 count.

The Fighting Knights look to answer in set two and grabbed a 12-11 tilt. Jesuit then tied the match on the next point and never looked back en route to a 25-19 win and a commanding 2-0 lead in the overall match.

Set three started with Jesuit rolling to a 10-3 lead, but the Blue & White rallied to knot things up at 20 on a Caple kill. Jesuit then captured the next two points to go up 22-20 before Lynn collected a point on a Jesuit attack error to make it a 22-21 game in favor of the Cardinals. Jesuit then closed out the match on a 3-1 run.

Lynn committed 10 costly service errors while hitting .200 for the game. Raffa led the Fighting Knights with 11 kills as Brown and Caple added eight kills each.   

The Blue & White continues action in the 6^th Annual Shark Invite on Saturday, Sept. 1, starting at 9 a.m. versus Merrimack then again at 1 p.m. against Wayne State. For more information, log on to LynnFightingKnights.com, ‘Like’ us on Facebook and follow @LUKnights on Twitter and Instagram.