Hofstra sweeps Sacred Heart, moves to 7-1 on year
The Hofstra University volleyball team crushed the hearts of the Sacred Heart University Pioneers in a 3-0 sweep on Tuesday, Sept. 5.
After their first loss at the UConn tournament against the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks, the Pride showed no signs of slowing down their continued dominance over the season so far.
In the first set, both teams stayed deadlocked with a 7-7 tie to open. However, Hofstra began to pull away thanks to a kill from Izadora Stedile and some miscues from the Sacred Heart side. Those errors gave the Pride enough breathing room to continue dialing points. A fierce kill by Sarah Pierre pulled the Pride to an 18-12 lead, but the Pioneers still had some juice left. Two massive kills by Kate Anderson and Camryn Luginbuhl led to an attack error from Beatriz Braga, closing the gap to 19-17. Stedile, along with Braga, answered with a kill, pushing Hofstra forward 23-18. But the Pioneers overwhelmed the Pride’s defense with multiple attack errors, pulling in 23-21. The Pride then advanced with another stellar kill from Stedile, winning the first set 25-21.
Both teams came out ready for the second set, which started with another close game. Hofstra, once again, took control and built a 14-6 lead thanks to a mix of kills by Emily Nunes and Yagmur Cinel and defense miscues by the Pioneers. A service ace extended Hofstra’s lead 19-10. However, Sacred Heart, as in the first set, slowly crept their way back into the game. Five straight points on a crumbling Pride defense inched the Pioneers closer 20-15. Cinel took the game into her own hands and dialed in three straight kills. This, added on with a couple of attack errors, closed the second set 25-20 for the Pride.
After two well-fought sets, the Pioneers could not keep up with the Hofstra offense, who continued to show their persistence with an 18-9 game. The Pride again had some trouble closing out the Pioneers, but Stedile sealed the game and the final set 25-16 with monstrous back-to-back kills.
Nunes and Stedile carried the Pride with eight kills each, along with Beatriz Alves and her 33 assists. Hofstra now stands at 7-1, adding to its powerful start this season. Sacred Heart falls to 0-5 and is still searching for its first win. The Pride will make their way over to the 2023 Dartmouth Invitational on Friday, Sept. 8, to play the Stonehill College Skyhawks.
Photo courtesy of Clarus Multimedia Group
