The River force it to 5, but ultimately fall short.

Indian River volleyball lost its Citrus Conference home opener Wednesday night against Hillsborough Community College forcing it to 5 set match. The Pioneers are now 0-2 in the conference, while HCC improves to 1-1.

The Pioneers started off to a great start in the first set, gaining the lead early. Keeping the pressure on HCC, the River did not let up as they captured set one 25-19. The second set saw the Hawks coming out with a lot of fire, battling for each point. Indian River could not find their rhythm and struggled to side out quickly. With that, the Hawks took set two 18-25, tying the match 1-1.

The third set was very similar to the second. Indian River struggled to side out as the Hawks went on multiple four-point runs. In the end, Indian River made a couple of changes and found a spark again, but it wasn't enough to come back as HCC won the third 20-25, leading 2-1 on the match.

Indian River started off the fourth set a little slow until Freshman defensive specialist, Mia Nicklas came into the match as she applied a significant amount of pressure at the service line, going on a nine-point run to help the Pioneers gain control and the momentum. Continuing the push one point at a time, IRSC took set four 25-22, forcing a fifth.

Both teams came out with a lot of energy and grit. Trading blows back to back until Indian River pushed a four-point lead, 10-6. As the pressure began to rise, the Hawks slowly started to chip away closing the lead within one point, 13-12. Battling point for point all the way to the very end, with multiple game point opportunities for both sides.  Ultimately, it all came down to which team was going to break away and push the two-point run. Unfortunately, the Pioneers fought until the very end but fell short as the Hawks took the fifth set 18-20, finishing the match with a 3-2 win.

Key contributors to the match: Sophomore Libero, Stella Lukaszuk (28 digs, 3 assists, 1 ace) Sophomore Setter, Franziska Kopold (25 assists, 11 digs, 2 kills) and Sophomore Middle Blocker, Zuzanna Rut (5 kills, 3 blocks).

The Pioneers look to bounce back as they will travel to Eastern Florida State College this Saturday, September 16^th in a conference match at 2 p.m.