Despite losing its first contest of the season, the Stony Brook women’s volleyball team had a strong weekend that was capped off by a milestone victory for its head coach.
The Seawolves (5-1) took part in the Ellis Rowland Memorial Tournament over the weekend and opened it by defeating the Buffalo Bulls (3-4) by a score of 3-1 on Friday. On Saturday afternoon, the University of Connecticut (UConn) Huskies (6-0) handed Stony Brook its first loss of the season. However, it bounced back by beating the Colgate Raiders (1-5) by a final of 3-2 on Sunday.
The Seawolves and the Bulls sat neck-and-neck for the majority of the first set until Buffalo took a 17-15 advantage. The lead did not last long, as Stony Brook went on a 10-4 run to close the first set. The outburst was spearheaded by two kills apiece from outside hitters Kali Moore and Leoni Kunz, as well as two service aces by libero Julia Patsos.
The second set was a similar story to the first. After a kill by Kunz gave the Seawolves an 18-16 lead, Buffalo outside hitter Abby Leigh and her sister — setter Mandy Leigh — accounted for the next four kills, helping them grab the lead. From there, the Bulls easily closed out the set with a 25-22 victory, knotting the match at one.
In the following set, Stony Brook jumped out to an 8-2 lead, helped by two service aces from middle blocker Ayanna Pierre Louis and two kills from Kunz. Using this early momentum, the Seawolves ran away with the third set in a 25-17 victory.
With the score tied at 16 in the fourth set, a kill from Moore and back-to-back Buffalo attack errors gave Stony Brook a three-point cushion. The lead did not last long, as a kill from Mandy Leigh preceded two attack errors by Moore to tie the score. Despite the brief stalemate, the Seawolves rode a pair of kills by Kunz to set up a 24-23 match point. From there, Buffalo outside hitter Katrin Trebichavska committed a service error to gift-wrap a 25-23 Stony Brook victory.
“Another good fight from our team today,” head coach Kristin Belzung said in a postgame interview with Stony Brook Athletics. “It wasn’t a very clean match overall, but we fought to be disciplined and follow the game plan and that’s hard sometimes, so I’m proud of our group.”
Saturday afternoon brought a battle of the undefeated teams between the Seawolves and the Huskies. UConn quickly grabbed a hold of the lead 6-5 and never looked back. Trailing 22-15, Stony Brook rattled off four unanswered points to get back into the game. Nonetheless, the comeback proved to be too little, too late, as the Huskies claimed the opening set 25-20.
The second set was a competitive affair with the score being deadlocked on 10 occasions and five lead changes. The Huskies appeared to take control late with a 22-19 lead, but the Seawolves did not go quietly. They went on a 6-1 run, capped off by a service ace from Pierre Louis to tie the match one set apiece.
The ensuing set saw Stony Brook hold an 18-17 that did not last, as the Huskies rattled off a 5-0 run thanks to two kills by outside hitter Emma Werkmeister. Ahead 22-18, UConn took over, using a 25-22 set win to claim a 2-1 lead in the match.
With the Seawolves just one set away from their first loss of the season, both teams traded blows, leading to a 13-13 score. A service error from outside hitter Quinn Anderson kickstarted a 4-0 run for the Huskies, which was helped by two kills from middle blocker Audrey Rome, giving them a 17-13 lead. Now with the lead, UConn refused to let up, handing Stony Brook a 25-22 defeat and ending Saturday’s festivities.
“UConn did a great job of keeping us out of rhythm today,” Belzung said. “We weren’t able to get ahead of them defensively and ultimately the result shows that.”
The weekend finale saw Stony Brook go to battle with Colgate — the tournament’s host.
The first set saw both teams locked at 11 points. Moore quickly changed the direction of the set by ripping four kills and aiding her side to a 15-12 lead. From there, the Seawolves rode the momentum to a 25-20 set win. Colgate did itself no favors, committing 11 errors.
In Sunday’s second set, the Seawolves grabbed a 22-21 lead thanks to a powerful kill by Anderson landing in the back zone. However, Colgate did not go away, scoring four out of the final five points for a 25-23 victory, tying the match one set apiece.
The third set followed the same pattern as its predecessors, but this time the action went beyond 25 points. With the score tied at 27-27, Moore committed back-to-back attack errors to give the Raiders a 29-27 victory and put them a set away from a win.
Needing to win the set to stay alive, Stony Brook took a 17-11 lead thanks to an 8-1 run. From there, the Seawolves did not let the Raiders out of their grasp, tying the match at two sets apiece with a 25-18 set victory.
With the match now tied, the Seawolves and the Raiders matched each other with eight ties and five lead changes as the fifth set went to extra points.
After Colgate forced match point at 16-15, setter Torri Henry set Kunz up for the game-tying kill before Colgate outside hitter Frances Torres met Kunz in the air. Torres nailed the opportunity to the hardwood, seemingly winning the match for her team. However, the celebration was premature, as Belzung challenged the call to reveal that Torres touched the net as she went up, resulting in a net violation to tie the set 16-16.
From there, the back-and-forth continued. With Stony Brook up 18-17, Anderson delivered the game winner off a set from Henry, as she leapt in the air on the left side and struck the ball down, grazing the backline.
This victory against Colgate marked Belzung’s 100th win as the head coach of the team.
“I am so thankful for the opportunity to coach at Stony Brook every day,” Belzung said. “Reaching a milestone is a testament to the incredible coaches, support staff and student athletes that have been in this program over the years. I am grateful to have gotten to work and build this program with all of them.”
Stony Brook posted a .244 hitting percentage over the weekend. Kunz led the offense with 54.5 points and 48 kills. Moore scored 51 points and 42 kills and Pierre Louis notched 29.5 points and 20 kills. Anderson had her second consecutive 20-kill weekend.
Henry facilitated the offense with 91 assists and contributed 41 digs defensively. Patsos was the anchor of her team’s defense with 50 digs. To complement her offensive heroics, Kunz notched 37 digs, including 21 in the match against UConn.
The Seawolves will take part in their final tournament of the season next weekend. In the Art Carmichael Invitational hosted by the University of Rhode Island, Stony Brook will face the Harvard Crimson (3-0) at 1 p.m. on Friday before taking on the hosts — the Rhode Island Rams (1-5) — at 7 p.m. To close the weekend, the Seawolves will face the Northern Illinois Huskies (1-4) on Saturday at noon.
