Box Score ALBANY, N.Y. – Felician Women's Volleyball sparked the start of its 2023 season with a non-conference match-up with the College of Saint Rose Golden Knights Thursday evening. After a battle of a third set to stay alive, the Golden Falcons dropped 0-3 (22-25, 18-25, 23-25) to the hosts.

In a first set score volley, the Golden Falcons found themselves tied with the Golden Knights at 19 while the host rallied two to hold the 21-19 lead. Blocks by Mariam Kromah (Willingboro, N.J), Cailey Jones (Bel Air, M.D.), and Sara Betts (2) (Goodyear, A.Z.) and a Golden Knight attack error, the green-and-gold held a 22-21 advantage. However, four consecutive hosts kills, put away the first set, 25-22, in favor of Saint Rose.

By the second set, Felician was dug into a 6-point deficit until a pair of errors, a Megan Barker (St. Catharines, Ontario) kill and a Rylee Botelho (Fairhaven, M.A.) service ace, the green-and-gold came back to trail by 2, 9-7. Midway through, a pattern began to develp when the Golden Knights recorded six points to pull away from the squad for the second set win.

Felician saw a 7-point lead during the final set, which was a battle for the Golden Falcons to stay alive. With the green-and-gold holding a 20-17 lead, the Golden Knights continued the pattern of rallies to hold the first lead of the set, 22-20. Karla Maldonado (Morovis, Puerto Rico) tied it up at 22 on a service ace, but after a final kill from Betts, the Golden Knights closed out the evening with a 0-3 sweep of Felician.

Maldonado led the squad with nine kills and 11 digs, while Betts posted seven kills and four blocks.

Women's Volleyball will be back on the road next Thursday to play Pace University in Pleasantville, N.Y. at 7:00pm.