Box Score
ABINGTON, Pa. – After dropping the first set before clinching the second and third sets handily, Penn State Abington dropped the final two frames, including 15-12 in the fifth set, while falling to King's College, 3-2 (25-21, 17-25, 16-25, 28-26, 15-10), to open the 2014 campaign with a hard-fought five-set battle Friday evening.
 
Abington started out hot from the get go with a 6-0 lead, forcing the Monarchs to burn its first time-out of the game. The King's then rallied back into the game as Abington committed nine errors throughout the set to give the Monarch the 25-21 decision.
 
Abington showed the same intensity in game two and three, coming out hot once again with a six-point rally, hitting .229 in the second set for the 25-17 victory before hitting .241 in the third with sophomores Sam Amaro (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Rachel Bohl (Philadelphia, Pa.) tallying four kills apiece to give the Blue and White the 25-16 decision and the 2-1 lead of the match.
 
The Monarchs refused to go away and jumped ahead with a 7-1 lead, collecting five of the seven points from Abington's errors. The Nittany Lions continued to struggle on the court, trailing 17-9 before sophomore Cricket Lennon (Bethlehem, Pa.) sparked a 12-4 rally to tie up the match at 21 points apiece. Abington looked to take the lead but trailed 23-24 to force extra points before a kill and an Abington error gave King's College the 28-26 decision and the fourth set to force the deciding set.
 
Both teams vied for the lead in the final set, trading points back and fourth as the score stands at 9-9 before the Monarchs scored four straight and closed out the match with a Kately Shifflett kill for King's College's first win of the season.
 
For Abington, Bohl and Amaro each recorded double figures in kills with 24 and 16, respectively. Lennon was credited with 29 assists and six aces as fellow classmate Sam Nelson (Doylestown, Pa.) collected 19 assists. Victoria Lohman (Frederick, Md.) led the squad with 29 digs with Amaro's 19 digs on the night.
 
For King's College, Shifflett finished with a match-high 13 kills to go along with six digs and a .229 hitting percentage. Five players were credited with double figures in digs.
 
Abington will return to action tomorrow as the Blue and White hosts Immaculata University, Notre Dame of Maryland University, and Cairn University for a quad-match. The first match begins at 12 p.m. with Abington taking on the Gators of Notre Dame of Maryland.