The Stony Brook women’s volleyball team failed to capitalize offensively in a midweek loss.
The Seawolves (10-6, 3-3 CAA) hosted the Fairleigh Dickinson (FDU) Knights (12-5, 2-0 NEC) on Tuesday in the Pritchard Gymnasium. Despite a 1-0 Stony Brook lead, the Knights quickly made quick adjustments and rallied to win 3-1.
After trading points to start much of the first set, a service error by FDU setter Megan Bushnell and a kill by outside hitter Kali Moore gave the Seawolves some breathing room at 18-13. The Knights immediately punched back with a 3-0 run of their own before Stony Brook put the set away with six unanswered points. The run was spearheaded by kills from middle blocker Ayanna Pierre Louis and outside hitters Leoni Kunz and Quinn Anderson, alongside a pair of service aces from Moore. Trailing 24-16, FDU engineered a 4-0 run to make things a little tighter, but a kill by Kunz wrapped up a 25-20 Seawolves win.
Though Stony Brook held a lead as large as three in the second set, the Knights tied it up at 19-19 with a kill from outside hitter Avery Bain and used a 3-0 run to go up 22-20. From there, the Seawolves responded by delivering its own 3-0 spurt, tying the set on a kill by Pierre Louis.
An attack error by Bain brought Stony Brook up 23-22, but it was all Knights from there. FDU right-side hitter MacKenzy Ruggiero re-tied festivities on a kill before coming up with a block assist to give the Knights the lead. On set point, FDU middle blocker Angela Marchetto came away with a kill to tie the match at a set apiece.
Set three told a similar story, beginning with neither team holding a major lead. Eventually, FDU manufactured some distance with a 17-11 advantage.
In need of a comeback, the Seawolves went on a 6-3 run to close the gap to three. After the Knights once again extended their lead to six, FDU setter Hannah Schmidt committed a service error preceding a kill by Anderson. Setter Torri Henry then served an ace and middle blockers Abby Campbell and Mercedes Motton teamed up on a block to cut the deficit to 23-21. Nevertheless, FDU outside hitters Kylie Nott and Maria Cisneros offered a kill and a service ace to close the set.
“They executed,” head coach Kristin Belzung said in a postgame interview with The Statesman. “They found ways to extend rallies, they did a really good job with scrapping and putting themselves in a position where they were managing rallies, until they had an opportunity to execute.”
Needing a win to stay alive, the Seawolves were unable to extend the match to a fifth set despite reverting to a familiar lineup.
“We flipped our lineup back to our regular starting lineup, but it didn’t yield the results that we wanted,” Belzung said.
Stony Brook led 13-12 before the Knights started to run away with the fourth set. FDU scored 10 unanswered points to put a stranglehold on the set at 22-13. The Knights cruised to the finish line, claiming the set and match with a 25-17 victory.
“We didn’t come in ready to compete,” Belzung said. “They showed up with a good game plan against us to force us to be disciplined and we were not as disciplined as we needed to be.”
Despite the loss, Stony Brook’s .268 hitting percentage outmatched FDU’s .265 clip. Moore led the offense once again with 14 kills and 16 points. Anderson was second with 11 kills and Pierre Louis picked up the rear with nine kills.
“Overall, I thought our offense did not put us in positions to allow our defense to be successful,” Belzung said. “We weren’t managing rallies the right way because we weren’t able to pass well enough to do that.”
Henry offered 27 assists throughout the match. She also totaled 13 digs to help out with libero Julia Patsos’ defensive efforts. Patsos earned 15 digs and Moore pitched in with 10 digs. The Seawolves had a sum of seven blocks as Motton led the pack with five block assists.
In a quick turnaround back to Coastal Athletic Association play, Stony Brook will travel to North Carolina this weekend where they will face the North Carolina A&T Aggies. The Aggies are 8-6 overall and 3-3 in conference play. They are coming off winless losses against Towson, where they did not claim a single set. Both Saturday and Sunday’s matches are set for 1 p.m.