ASTON, Pa. – The Neumann University women's volleyball team dropped a battle with Gettysburg College 3-1 on Friday night on the first day of the Knights Invitational.
 
Regan Hickey led the Knights with 13 kills in the match. Maria Brown added nine kills and Lauren Garvey seven. Dani Smith handed out 26 assists, four service aces and notched 13 digs. Claudia Bournazel tallied 12 digs.
 
Neumann opened the match scoring the first point. Gettysburg answered by scoring eight of the next nine points to take an 8-2 lead. Three straight points brough the Knights to within three, 8-5, but the Bullets turned up the pressure and took set one 25-15.
 
The second set started was back a fourth and a kill by Brown kept the Knights within two, 11-9. The Bullets then built a 20-13 advantage and took the second set 25-15.
 
The Knights opened the third set by scoring the first six points and would build a 12-6 edge. Gettysburg pulled back to within three, 14-11, but Neumann scored five of the next seven to extends its lead back to six, 19-13. Leading 24-16, it took a few chances, but Brown notched a set winning kill, 25-19, to force a fourth set.
 
The Fourth set started back and forth, but the Bullets worked on building a 20-13 lead. The Knights then rattled off six straight points to get back within one, 20-19. After trading some points, Gettysburg took advantage of three straight attack errors to take the set 25-21 and the match 3-1.
 
Neumann (1-8) will face Cedar Crest College (10am) and Gallaudet University (2pm) in day two of the Knights Invitational on Saturday.