The Stony Brook Women’s Volleyball team hosted the UMBC Terriers this Friday night. The match was sloppy at many times, and it came down to the final set, but the Seawolves pulled out a 3-2 win.
Stony Brook began the game with an absolutely brutal first set, losing 25-19. They were riddled with a nearly comedic amount of errors, trying their hardest to outdo the weak UMBC attack in terms of errors. The Seawolves scored 12 kills, and had nearly as many errors, with eight hitting errors and three service errors. UMBC themselves had a poor set, hitting a paltry .105, but the Seawolves did their best to hand them the game. Kaitlin Costello, two matches removed from her dominant performance against Providence, hit -.067, with 5 errors and 4 kills.
The team bounced back however. in the second set, narrowly winning 25-21. They cut down on their errors, with only nine total compared to 17 kills. UMBC managed an even weaker defensive performance, with a .098 hitting percentage. Costello and Kathy Fletcher led the turnaround, with Fletcher notching five kills on 11 attempts with only a single error.
The Seawolves regressed in the third set, falling 25-23. Once again, UMBC mounted a weak attack and the Seawolves answered with errors in bunches. The team matched 14 kills with nine hitting errors and three service errors. Costello lead the team in both kills and errors, five and four respectively. Hannah Dolan kept quietly racking up assists, having notcher her 37th by the end of the third.
However, in the fourth set, the Stony Brook Seawolves turned it around. They won the fourth set 25-19, combining stifling defense with a paltry UMBC offense for a absolute shutdown. The UMBC Terriers hit a -.026, with more hitting errors than kills, of which they only had seven. The Seawolves had 21 digs and only four hitting errors, playing strong defense with minimal errors. They rode this momentum into the final set, which they won 15-9.
Coach Coley Pawlikowski was happy with her team’s turnaround.
“I think when we mentally decided that we’re going to defend our home court, that we’re going to win, I think that was the turning point,”she said.
Stony Brook will play next Friday, Nov. 1 against Albany in Pritchard Gymnasium.