FREDERICK, Md.--The Hood College volleyball team (2-3, 0-2 Commonwealth) won the first set but was unable to hang on, as the visiting Alvernia University Crusaders (3-5, 1-1 Commonwealth) captured a 23-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-12 victory in a Commonwealth Conference match at BB&T Arena Tuesday night.

Hood led wire-to-wire in the opening set and collected 13 kills to just four attack errors in the frame. Rebecca Rieser and Alyssa Eshleman connected for the set-clinching kill as the Blazers escaped with the narrow 25-23 victory.

The next two sets were nip and tuck the entire way, as neither team was able to mount a substantial lead. Hood fell behind 23-16 late in the second, but rallied to score five unanswered points to close to within two, 23-21, on a Crusader attack error. But Alvernia would prevail on a kill by Brittany Lantz as a result of a Hood blocking error.

Hood started the third set on a tear, scoring the first four points of the stanza. Alvernia countered with an 8-3 run that featured kills by four different players, the last by Liz Newman, which put the Crusaders up 8-7. The score would seesaw back and forth as the two teams found themselves deadlocked on 10 different occasions down the stretch. Alvernia closed out the match with a pair of kills and a Blazer hitting error to win 25-21 and take a 2-1 edge in the match.

Hood was unable to keep pace with the Crusaders in the fourth set, as Alvernia maintained the upperhand throughout the set. Alvernia doubled up the Blazers in the kill department, 10-5, in the fourth set alone and went on to clinch the match with a 25-12 win.

Brittany Lethbridge paced the Blazer attack with a season-high 12 kills to go along with 17 digs on defense. Amy Hagerdon kept a number of points alive with her strong defensive play and finished with a team-best 22 digs in addition to putting down seven kills. Eshleman had a double-double with 26 assists and 15 digs while Addie Roop contributed 20 digs and a pair of kills. Rieser finished with five kills and three blocks and Ashley Park-Brouse had six kills and five digs.

For Alvernia, Kristen Rupp and Lantz led all attackers with 16 kills apiece and Tori Beck and Brittanie Wolfe had 28 and 19 assists, respectively.

Hood continues its five-match homestand Thursday hosting Notre Dame (Md.) University at 7 p.m. in a nonconference match.