DAYTON, Ohio – Lakeland Community College volleyball showed how scrappy of a team they can be by gutting out a 3-2 victory over Sinclair Community College by the score 20-25, 25-18, 30-28, 15-25 and 15-9 Friday evening.

With the win, Lakeland improves to 1-0 on the season and more importantly, 1-0 in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) play.

Iesha Niciu led the Lakers with 13 kills and added nine blocks. Morgan Smart added 10 kills while Brittney O'Hara helped on defense with 26 digs. Caitlin Cipriano hustled all around the court and dished out 52 assists in the victory.

The Lakers dropped the opening set but did not let that discourage them as they bounced back in the second set to win 25-18 to even the match at 1-1 after two sets. The third set turned into a marathon and it was Lakeland coming out on top 30-28 to take a 2-1 advantage in sets.

Lakeland had a chance to close out the match in the fourth but Sinclair showed some fight and forced a fifth set with a 25-15 victory in the fourth. Lakeland bounced right back in the fifth set for a 15-9 win to clinch the season-opening victory.

The Lakers will finish out the road trip on Saturday, Aug. 26 against Columbus State Community College at 11 a.m.

For more information about Lakeland athletics, visit www.athletics.lakelandcc.edu.

About Lakeland Community College

Founded in 1967, Lakeland Community College was the first college in Ohio created by a vote of the people. True to our mission, Lakeland provides quality learning opportunities to meet the social and economic needs of the community.

Offering day, evening, weekend and online classes, the college serves more than 10,800 credit and 2,800 noncredit students (2016). For more information about the College, visit www.lakelandcc.edu.