Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – The Ithaca College volleyball team (1-1) split a pair of matches Friday night at the DeSales Invitational to open its 2013 campaign. The Bombers first defeated Albright (0-2), 3-1 (25-23, 25-16, 20-25, 25-17), before dropping a four-set decision to Cabrini (2-0), 3-1 (25-21, 24-26, 25-13, 25-23).

Junior transfer Rylie Bean led the Bombers with 18 kills in the opening match. Seniors Justine Duryea and Syline Kim added eight and seven, respectively. Rookie Molly Brown and sophomore Carly Garone, the 2012 Empire 8 Rookie of the Year, split setting duties to tally 23 and 17 assists apiece. Brown served up a match-best five aces and Kim chipped in three.

Albright lashed out to a 6-2 lead before five straight points awarded the Bombers a 7-6 gap. The Lions regained the lead until Ithaca knotted action at 18-18. The Bombers prevailed down the stretch, snagging a 25-23 first-set victory.

Ithaca owned the second set, claiming it in 25-16 fashion. The Lions took a strong lead early, 7-3, but Ithaca battled to tie action, 14-14. Nine unanswered helped Ithaca to a 2-0 lead.

Albright won the third, 25-20. The Lions snapped a 15-15 stalemate with 7-1 streak en route to a third-set win.

Ithaca powered through the fourth, taking the lead indefinitely at 8-7. Albright snuck within 19-17, but the Bombers went on to take the final set, 25-17.

Bean also paced the Bombers against the Cavaliers. She tallied 16 kills and five aces. Freshman Shaelynn Schmidt recorded seven kills and classmate Siobhan Sorensen and Kim added six each. Garone set for 27 assists. Defensively, Sorensen put up 10 blocks (1 solo, 9 assists), Bean dug out 14 times and freshman Myan Idziur 12 times.

The Cavaliers took a 10-6 advantage in the first. Ithaca kept within striking distance, but Cabrini maintained at least a two-point cushion the rest of the way to cruise to a 25-21 first-game win.

Ithaca fought into extra points to knot the series, 1-1. Abbie Hutchinson served the Bombers to an early 6-0 lead. Cabrini crawled back within 15-12 before tying the set, 18-18. Ithaca outlasted the Cavaliers with an 8-6 run topped off by an Idziur ace.

Cabrini thrashed their way through the third, 25-13. It built upon an 8-3 margin for a double-digit, 19-9, gap late in the game.

The final frame bounced back-and-forth, ending in Cabrini's favor, 25-23. At match point, Schmidt denied the Cavs the set with a kill on a Garone assist, but a Cabrini kill followed to close the night.

The Bombers face host DeSales Saturday at noon and take on Muhlenberg at 2 p.m.