Columbia, MD – The Dragons played perhaps their best match of the season against the undefeated Montgomery Raptors, as they gave the visitors quite a scare despite losing in straight sets.

The Raptors, who have yet to lose a set in nine matches this season, started out strong going on an 11-1 run to begin the match. Howard never put their heads down and fought back fiercely with a 6-1 run taking advantage of Montgomery errors. The Dragons continued to claw back including an amazing rally when the Raptors were on set point which the Dragons prevailed on, only to gift away the set on a service error.

Howard used that momentum to jump out in the second set including a 5-0 run to put the Dragons up 10-5 which included a block by Natalie Hosseini (Ellicott City, MD/Mt. Hebron) who then assisted with Sabrina Lagomarsino (Clarksville, MD/Atholton) for a block on back-to-back points.

Feeling the urgency of the moment, Montgomery locked it in and won nine of the next ten points, but Howard came right back with another 5-0 run with Kiran Thompson picking up a big kill to give the Dragons the lead back at 18-16. The Raptors once again came back strong as service errors helped doom the Dragons to a second set defeat.

Howard once again came out strong in the third set with Hosseini getting back-to-back kills to give the Dragons an early 7-5 lead, but the Raptors big hitters found their groove after that and never trailed again in the third set.

Lagomarsino and Yi Su Arief (Ellicott City, MD/Centennial) picked up nine digs each in the contest as Howard put up a valiant defensive performance in the match.

Howard will continue to rack up the huge miles as they travel to Potomac State College of West Virginia on Tuesday, September 24 at 6 PM.