(Courtesy of Dowling Athletics)

Oakdale, NY-The #1 seed Golden Lions of Dowling College (27-6) defeated #8 Georgian Court University 3-0 (25-14, 25-19, 25-23) in the first round of the NCAA East Regional Tournament Thursday evening. The Lions end their season at 27-10.

Dowling started off slow in the first set as Georgian Court worked a 4-4 tie, 7-7, 8-8 and 9-9 before the Golden Lions went on an 11-0 run which saw Morgan Mutranowski (Muskego, WI) toe the service line 13 straight times and Kelly Scott (Moscow, ID) led the charge with 2 kills.  The rally included 7 errors by the Lions which ended in a 25-14 victory for Dowling.  Bethany Shepard (Lakewood, CO), Patrycja Klekotka (Siedlce, Poland) and Scott all contributed with 3 kills for the Golden Lions.  The Lions were led by Senior outside hitter Janelle Murdock with 1 kill and 2 digs in the set. 

In the second set Georgian Court hopped out to a slim lead but the Golden Lions offense stabilized and tied the set at 5.  The set remained tight until a kill by Shepard expanded the led to 12-9.  After a kill by Klekotka, Georgian Court called a timeout staring at a 15-11 deficit.  Dowling went on to close out the sent 25-19 with a kill from Shepard.  The Golden Lions were led in the set by Klekotka with 5 kills. 

The third and final set of the match concluded with a tight 25-23 victory for the #1 seeded Golden Lions.  Dowling showed their postseason mental toughness as they came back from being down 16-12.  With the set knotted at 23 apiece back to back kills by Maja Potpara and Shepard ended the contest 25-23.  Potpara led the attack with 3 kills in the set and Brandi Arsenault led the Lions with 2 kills.

Klekotka led the Golden Lions with 11 kills on the night. Shepard kept the Lions offense in check with 12 digs to lead all players.  Georgian Court was led offensively by Murdock with 7 kills.  Dowling had a .275 hitting percentage as a team.

Murdock earned a spot on the NCAA Volleyball East Regional All Tournament Team for her performance.

The Golden Lions will next take on Bentley University Friday night at 7:30 PM in the second round.