Lynchburg, Va. -- University of Lynchburg's volleyball team survived a five set thriller to earn its first Old Dominion Athletic Conference victory of 2018 Thursday night, a 25-23, 25-12, 22-25, 10-25, 15-5 over visiting Ferrum.

Junior outside Sydney Frink (Chester, Va.) led the way for the Hornets, putting together a 16-kill, 15-dig effort for her third double-double of the season.

Junior setter Erin Farina (Crozet, Va.) set a new career high with 42 assists, also adding nine digs and three aces in a big conference win.

Junior libero Lauren Stanford (Mechanicsville, Va.) powered the Lynchburg defense with 24 digs to move into sixth on the Lynchburg all-time leaderboard. She now has 1,077 in her three-year career.

Freshmen did some heavy lifting for the Hornets as well, as right side Emma Drake (Newsoms, Va.) piled up 11 kills and defensive specialists Flinn Christian (Columbia, S.C.) and Annie Tynes (Glen Allen, Va.) dug out 16 and 14 attacks, respectively. Tynes also served up three aces.

Cheyenne Strickland led the way for Ferrum with nine kills, 19 assists, three aces, and 10 digs.

The match was originally scheduled for Sept. 15, but Hurricane Florence pushed the contest back to Thursday.

THE RUNDOWN

Final: Lynchburg 3, Ferrum 2 (25-23, 25-12, 22-25, 10-25, 15-5)

Records: Lynchburg (4-7, 0-1 ODAC), Ferrum (7-5, 0-1 ODAC)

Venue: Turner Gymnasium, University of Lynchburg, Lynchburg, Va.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Hornets started out slow, falling behind 6-0 before a timeout. The hosts turned it on at the midway point, using a 6-1 run to cut the Panthers' lead to one point. Lynchburg took its first lead, 19-18, with another 5-0 run, and the Hornets put the match away with three straight points.

• Lynchburg dominated the second set, jumping to a 4-0 lead and not looking back. Drake and sophomore middle Natalie Lavelle (Wilmington, Del.) each had three kills in the set.

• The Hornets' defense went to sleep in the third and fourth sets, however, as Ferrum hit .295 over the two frames.

• They woke up when it counted, however, as Lynchburg hit a scalding .250 in the deciding fifth. Frink put down three kills, all in a 10-0 run with Christian behind the service stripe that buried the visitors.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Hornets will play host to an ODAC tri-match Saturday, Sept. 29 as Roanoke and Eastern Mennonite come to town. Lynchburg will open the day at 11 a.m. against Roanoke, followed at 1 p.m. by a match between the two visitors, and the Hornets and EMU will finish the day at 3 p.m.

--LYN--