Sydney Portale led the team with 18 kills while Lizzie Herestofa, Kasey Bost, and Megan Nelson had 36, 15, and 15 digs respectively as the Susquehanna University Women's Volleyball team won a thrilling match over No. 19 Ohio Northern University before falling to No. 16 Hope College Saturday at the Midwest Invitational in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
 
The River Hawks (19-10), came back in grand fashion against the Polar Bears (16-5), as it took the team five sets (22-25, 23-25, 25-15, 25-21, 17-15) to secure the victory.
 
In the first set, the River Hawks fell behind early, but they were able to fight back with the lead changing seven times before eventually falling by three points.
 
In the second set, the River Hawks trailed by six late in the set and used a timeout to regroup. After the timeout, a Brooke Lacesa kill sparked the River Hawks to go on a mini-run. Hannah Lyons' two kills trimmed the Polar Bears lead to three causing Ohio Northern to call a timeout. Sloppy defensive play from the Polar Bears kept the River Hawks in the set, trimming the lead to one on two separate occasions towards the end but Ohio Northern was able to take the second set as well.

After narrowly trailing early on in the third set, the River Hawks used Kody Dillon's kill to give them their first lead of the set at 7-6, and they never looked back as the offense was firing on all cylinders. Portale had six kills in the set while the River Hawks used service aces by Herestofa, Lacesa, and Dillon to spark the team as well.
 
In the fourth set, Susquehanna carried momentum from the previous set to guide them to a lead of 12-2, causing the Polar Bears to call timeout to stop the River Hawks run. Ohio Northern had a comeback late, however it was not enough to stop the River Hawks from taking the set.

In the pivotal fifth set, the River Hawks took the lead early on, only to have the Polar Bears fight back and trim the lead to one at 11-10. The team used Portale heavily towards the end, as she broke the tie twice late. With the set tied at 15, the River Hawks called timeout, and Lyons delivered a kill to give the Susquehanna a 16-15 lead before a ball handling error gave the River Hawks the win.
 
There were four River Hawks with double digit kills and Lindsey Pugh distributed 55 assists in the match.
 
In game two, the River Hawks fell to No. 16 Hope College (20-4), as the team dropped all three sets (20-25, 23-25, and 12-25). Susquehanna battled, especially in the first two sets but were unable to get over the hump and take a late lead in either set.
 
In the third set, Riley O'Dowd sparked the River Hawks early on with three straight kills, however it was not enough in the defeat. Hannah Lyons and Sydney Portale led the River Hawks with four blocks apiece.
 
The River Hawks return to action on Tuesday when the team travels to Stevenson University. The game is set to start at 7 p.m.