PHILADELPHIA – After two-time defending Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) regular season champion Georgian Court pulled away in sets one and two, the USciences volleyball team would not go down without a fight as it forced a fourth with a third set triumph at Bobby Morgan Arena on Thursday night.

With the score tied at 14 in the third, a Tori Wright kill and Caelin Jaskot service ace sparked a run of four out of five points, which was capped by impact sub Rachel Cahn's kill.

The Lions (11-1) got as close one, 18-17, with the next two points, but a kill by Kerrigan Clem and back-to-back kills by Natalia Velez reestablished a cushion that would help USciences avoid the sweep.  

Velez also had two of the Devils' next three points after that, a kill and service ace with a block by Jaskot and Clem in-between.

University of the Sciences could not carry that momentum into the fourth though, with the GCU using nine unanswered in the middle of the set to put things out of reach.

Wright and Velez had two of the three-highest kill total in the match, with 13 and 12 respectively, with Velez falling one dig shy of a double-double.

Jaskot reached a double-double with a match-high 36 assists and 11 digs, while Lauren Lim was also in double-figures with a team-best 13 digs.

Georgian Court broke a 6-6 deadlock in the first with four unanswered, and USciences could only get as close as two on seven occasions, the final time at 21-19 before the Lions scored the final four points.  

The second set also finished 25-19 after GCU overcame an early 9-11 deficit with 8-1 spurt.

University of the Sciences opens its non-conference slate at Millersville on Saturday.