Hofstra splits in second day of UConn tournament
The Hofstra University volleyball team split two games on the second day of the 2023 UCONN tournament, winning their sixth in a row against Merrimack College before suffering their first loss of the season to the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks in five sets.
Hofstra opened the day against the Merrimack College Warriors. Merrimack came into their matchup with a 1-3 record.
Hofstra showed no mercy in the first set, pounding the ball over the net with an Iyanna Garvin kill taking a 12-4 lead. The Warriors showed some fight, scoring four straight points coming within 16-10. But the Pride ended their dominant first set with three straight kills from Beatriz Braga and Clara Bal, taking the set 25-15.
The second and third set was more of the same, with Hofstra taking complete control. Bal commanded play in the second set, collecting five kills and helping her teammates in another 25-14 set win for Hofstra. In the third, the Pride came together and ended the game with another 25-14 victory.
The Pride, riding a 6-0 start to the season, matched up against a 4-1 Lehigh team in the midst of a two-game win streak. Hofstra started the game off with a service ace and kept the pace with the Mountain Hawks early in set one. Down 7-6, a kill from Yagmur Cinel tied the game at seven. From that point on, Lehigh separated themselves, scoring five straight points to take a 12-7 lead. The Mountain Hawks pounced their way through ending the first set with a kill from Megan Schulte for a final score of 25-18.
The Pride came back in the second set, playing more intensely than in the first. Back-and-forth play ensued for most of the first half of the set. Trailing 12-11, the Pride set themselves up for a five-point run, four of those points coming from kills by Bal and Sarah Pierre. Hofstra remained distant enough for breathing room. Holding on to a two-point lead, Hofstra secured a kill from Cinel to take the second set 25-22.
The Pride kept the intensity going in set three, scoring eight straight points to take a commanding 10-4 lead. Izadora Stedile killed back-to-back points to stretch their lead to 18-12. Cinel shut down the set yet again with a kill, giving the Pride a 25-16 victory.
The tide turned quickly for the Pride in the fourth set. Although they came out with a 5-2 lead early on, the Mountain Hawks took advantage of multiple attack errors on Hofstra’s part, as well as multiple kills by Lehigh’s Ufuoma Omene, to separate themselves with a 17-12 lead. Down the stretch, Lehigh scored six straight points and sealed the set with a Sophia Meager kill for a 25-16 win.
The fifth and final set was a back-and-forth affair with most of the game being tied. Late in the set with the score tied at 10, Lehigh set up two kills from Schulte and Alysia Fingall. That plus an attack error by Bal gave Lehigh a 13-10 lead. Lehigh ended the game with a kill that made the score 15-13, winning the set and handing the Pride their first loss of the season.
The Pride now stands at 6-1. Against Merrimack, Cinel and Bal led the team with 13 and 12 kills. In the Lehigh loss, both continued to dominate with 15 kills each. Bal continues a great start to the season, leading the team with 74 kills through seven games. Hofstra will next make their way over to Connecticut to go up against the Sacred Heart University Pioneers on Tuesday, Sept. 5, at 7 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Clarus Multimedia Group
