By Jordan Sawyer -- STAFF WRITER
Paola Figueroa and Doris Bogoje made the most of their last game in the Mack Physical Education Center, leading the charge for the Hofstra volleyball team in a 3-0 sweep of the Blue Hens of the University of Delaware on Sunday afternoon.
“Both of them were extremely supportive of each other and really worked well together … those are two really nice and special people for our program and I was really happy to see them play their last home match in a good way,” said Hofstra head coach Emily Mansur.
Figueroa played up front for the first time all year on Senior Day and led the Pride to an opening-set victory with a career-high five kills and a season-high three digs.
“She hasn’t done that [played up front] at all this year and she did a phenomenal job so it’s another thing that comes to our mind now when we talk about lineups,” Mansur said.
Hofstra improved to 15-11 overall while boosting their conference record to 7-5, inching a game closer to James Madison University in the Colonial Athletic Association standings.
Delaware jumped out to a 7-3 lead early in the first set before a Hofstra timeout subsided any wave of momentum. The Pride mustered up a 7-1 run after the timeout, garnering a 10-8 lead.
The Blue Hens fought their way back before Luisa Sydlik led another five-point scoring run to give Hofstra a 16-11 lead.
Both sides traded blows before a 3-0 run for Hofstra sparked a 24-17 set point, in which Delaware won back-to-back serves before an attack error resulted in a 25-19 set victory for the Pride.
After compiling four separate scoring runs in the first set, Hofstra replicated those efforts in the second set. The Pride fell behind 0-2 before a 5-0 scoring run gave them an early three-point lead. Delaware evened it at eight all before Laura Masciullo led a four-point scoring run with multiple kills. Back-and-forth point scoring for both teams lead a 18-15 lead for the Pride prior to a 7-1 scoring run, including four errors, to give Hofstra back-to-back set wins.
The Blue Hens climbed to a 5-1 lead to begin the third set before multiple 3-0 runs for the Pride gave them a 7-6 lead. Both teams drew even at nine after a few back-and-forth serve points before a 12-3 scoring run propelled Hofstra to a 21-13 lead.
Consecutive service aces from Masciullo after a Bogoje kill led to match point. Delaware attempted to mount a comeback with back-to-back points before a Nanishka Perez kill squandered the Blue Hens hopes and secured a 25-15 set victory for the Pride.
Masciullo led all players with 21 points, including 14 kills.
“It was nice to see Laura get five aces and three errors, this is the ratio that we are looking for every day she’s been working on,” Mansur said.
Hofstra will begin their four-game road trip to close out the season at Elon University on Nov. 3 at 7:30 p.m. The Pride need just one more win to earn a spot in the conference tournament.