In its first Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) action of the year, the Stony Brook women’s volleyball team won and lost one against its crosstown rivals.
For their season debut at Pritchard Gymnasium, the Seawolves (8-3, 1-1 CAA) hosted the Hofstra Pride (5-6, 1-1 CAA) in the Battle of Long Island. Stony Brook dominated the first match on Friday with a 3-0 sweep but were handed a 3-1 loss on Saturday.
On Friday, the Seawolves and the Pride were neck-to-neck throughout the first set, which featured five ties and three lead changes. Down the stretch, Hofstra put up four unanswered points to take a 21-20 lead on the back of a pair of kills from outside hitter Izadora Stedile, forcing head coach Kristin Belzung to call a timeout.
Out of the break, Stony Brook ripped off three straight points before another kill by Stedile made it 23-22. After the teams split the following four points, a service ace from defensive specialist Madison Cigna sealed a 26-24 set victory for the Seawolves.
Stony Brook got off to a hot, 8-3 start in the second set but eventually relinquished its advantage. After being up 15-11, the Pride converted five consecutive points to grab the lead.
However, the Seawolves responded with three unanswered points to make it 18-16. After the sides split the following six points, a pair of attacking errors from Stony Brook and an unsuccessful dig attempt from outside hitter Kali Moore and middle blocker Mercedes Motton handed Hofstra a 23-22 advantage.
With the momentum on the opposite side of the court, the Seawolves snatched the set victory from the jaws of defeat due to three unanswered points. Kills from Moore and outside hitter Quinn Anderson set up set point, which Stony Brook converted thanks to an attack error by Hofstra outside hitter Beatriz Braga.
After dropping two straight close sets, the Pride were put to bed decisively. After losing the first point of the third set, the Seawolves did not trail again. They complete the sweep with a 25-18 set victory.
“We practiced every single day what we needed to do in order to beat this team,” Moore said in a postgame interview with The Statesman.
On Saturday, Stony Brook picked up where it left off. On the back of an 8-1 opening run, the Seawolves repeated a 25-18 set win to go up 1-0. However, things went downhill from there.
Stony Brook led for the majority of the second set, but once it was up 18-15, it fell apart. Hofstra scored seven unanswered points, which included four kills and three attack errors from the Seawolves. The Pride then relied on a service error by setter Torri Henry — Stony Brook’s sixth of the set — a bad set by libero Julia Patsos and a kill by right-side hitter Constanza Perez Sain, respectively, to close out the second set in 25-21 fashion.
“I think the reality of it is we made some errors that bailed them out [situations],” Belzung said. “Six service errors in one set is too many. We [have] to put the pressure on them to earn their own points.”
Following the Seawolves’ second-set unturning, Hofstra smelled blood in the water and convincingly closed out Stony Brook with 25-17 and 25-14 victories in sets three and four, respectively.
“We allowed them to feel like they got into a rhythm,” Belzung said. “They understood that they had to put arms on balls, and it worked on them. We weren’t able to make adjustments we needed to.”
The Seawolves posted a measly .207 hitting percentage over the two-game series. Moore led the team with 37.5 points and 32 kills. Outside hitter Leoni Kunz trailed her with 18.5 points and 13 kills while Anderson registered 17.5 points and 12 kills.
Henry conducted the offense with 68 assists and anchored Stony Brook’s defensive efforts with 33 digs.
“[Henry] put us in great situations to be able to score,” Belzung said. “When you can go from defense to offense and score in transition, that’s major. Credit to both our backcourt and [Henry] for putting our attackers in really good situations.”
Patsos finished with 24 digs between both matches. Motton led the team with 12 blocks and Kunz had seven.
Next for the Seawolves is their first road CAA venture this upcoming weekend. They will visit the William & Mary Tribe in Williamsburg, Va. The Tribe are 4-6 overall and 0-1 in conference play after losing the first of two games versus Towson by 3-0, with the second unfolding on Sunday at 2 p.m. Against Stony Brook, Friday’s contest is scheduled for 3 p.m. while Saturday’s affair is slated for 11 a.m.
