Lancaster, Pa. -- Mya Green and Kailey Keough both collected double-doubles, leading University of Lynchburg's volleyball team to a nailbiter of a season-opening victory, 25-21, 21-25, 28-26, 10-25, 15-12 over Franklin & Marshall Friday night at Lancaster Bible College.

Keough had an incredible collegiate debut. The freshman put down a team-high 15 kills to go with 19 digs, while Green distributed 33 assists and snagged 14 digs of her own. Abbi Leeper had 13 kills for the Hornets, and a trio of Lynchburg defensive players – Cassi Blackmore (20), Abbey Barlow (14), and Jordan Bartemeyer (12) – reached double-digit digs as the back line held F&M to a middling .132 hitting percentage despite logging just three blocks.

Lynchburg leapt out to a 4-0 lead in the first set and led wire-to-wire in the opener before F&M took a second that was closely contested the whole way.

The Hornets had control of the third set until late, when the Diplomats called timeout trailing 21-16. F&M rallied to tie the set at 22, but Lynchburg put it away on back-to-back kills by Princess Salifou and Leeper to regain the lead in the match.

The fourth set was a disaster for Lynchburg – the Hornets had just three kills in 24 attacks in the 25-10 shellacking – before regrouping in the fifth. Lynchburg jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the rubber set, bolstered by strong service from Barlow and Keough, before the Diplomats recovered to cut the advantage to 9-6, forcing a Hornet timeout. A Leeper kill and a Green ace helped Lynchburg gain some breathing room, and Bree Spainhour put down the deciding kill to clinch the season-opener in the Hornets' favor.

Lynchburg will continue a busy weekend in Lancaster, Pa. with a pair of matches at F&M Saturday, playing Lancaster Bible at noon and Eastern at 2:30 p.m.

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--LYN--