Nine kills from three players proved to not be enough as the Stony Brook Seawolves volleyball team fell to the Hofstra Pride in three straight sets on Tuesday.
Hofstra’s front line defense proved to be too much for Stony Brook to handle, with many blocks recorded by the Pride. A comeback attempt by the Seawolves was derailed when redshirt senior outside hitter Kathy Fletcher was blocked twice in a row to end in the first set 27-25. Through the first two sets, Hofstra had seven blocks.
Stony Brook’s frontline just did not have the same type of success. Attack errors were abound as the Seawolves attempted to show the same type of defensive intensity the Pride were displaying Throughout the match, the Seawolves had three blocks matching the amount that Hofstra had in both the first and third sets.
In the first set, senior middle blocker Stephanie McFadden tied it all up at 24 with an emphatic spike. After a point by the Pride, McFadden tied it all up again at 25.
Even the second set, where the Seawolves fell 25-18, saw an inkling of a comeback. What began as a dominant 12-3 start by the Pride started to like a close one after the Seawolves went on a five-point run, led by Fletcher. The momentum swing was in favor of the Seawolves, who were down 22-17.
But, the Seawolves late push proved to come too late. Hofstra took the second set 25-18.
The third set looked like it would be much of the same. Hofstra got out to a small lead and would let it grow slowly. A four-point run by the Pride seemed to be the stake in the heart of the Seawolves, as they fell to a 11-5 deficit.
A switch seemed to turn on for the Seawolves, however. After going down 12-6 due to a kill by Hofstra sophomore outside hitter Brianna Montgomery, a service error started the Stony Brook’s climb. Kills by freshman setter Morgan Kath, her classmate middle hitter McKyla Brooks and sophomore outside hitter Melann Amory put the Seawolves at a two point deficit.
As hard as they tried, the Seawolves just could not take the lead from the Pride. The fat lady sang when freshman middle blocker Taylor Wilson was stuffed at the net by Montgomery and freshman middle blocker Michela Rucli. Hofstra had taken the set 25-20, and the game 3-0.
Whereas their defense left much to be desired, Stony Brook’s offense was red hot. Brooks, McFadden and Wilson all had nine kills, with McFadden being particularly efficient scoring on 38.9 percent of her attack attempts. Senior setter Nicole Vogel and Kath tied each other to lead the Seawolves in assists at 18 apiece.
Up next for the Seawolves is a weekend trip to Long Beach, California where they play in the LBSU/LMU Mizuno Invitational. They play Oakland and Central Arkansas on Friday Sept. 11 and then Long Beach State and Loyola Marymount the following day.
