It was a tale of two games for the Stony Brook volleyball team (2-7) at the Rose Hill Classic on Friday at the Rose Hill Gym in the Bronx. The Seawolves swept three sets against the Rider Broncos (25-20, 25-17, 25-15) but were swept in three sets in turn by the Syracuse Orange (25-20, 25-14, 25-19) later in the day.
The Seawolves didn’t start well in the first game against Rider (5-9), trailing early in the first set. However, they eventually took the lead, 10-9, and even stretched the lead to 16-11.
The Broncos fought back, however, and closed the gap to 21-20. Sophmore Greta Slaughter (Woodbury, Minn.) and senior Ashley Headen (Alexandria, Va.) responded with back-to-back kills for the Seawolves. Stony Brook closed out the first set two points later.
The Seawolves and Broncos at first slugged out the second set with neither team pulling away. Then Stony Brook began a 9-1 run, giving them a 22-13 point advantage. Headen had three aces during this streak. The Broncos fought back by winning four consecutive points, but Stony Brook eventually secured the set and a 2-0 set lead.
The third set started off as a close contest just as the first two had. With Stony Brook leading 8-7, the Seawolves went on a 3-0 run and began to pull away. A kill by junior Alicia Nelson (Apple Valley, Minn.) gave Stony Brook a 17-10 lead. Nelson had a game-high 13 kills. From that point, the Broncos would never come within five of the Seawolves. Stony Brook hit .500 in the final set and a season-high .342 for the game. Freshman Evann Slaughter (Clinton, Md.) had a season-high eight kills against Rider. Strenger also recorded eight kills.
With victory still fresh in their minds, the Seawolves surged into game two against the undefeated Syracuse Orange (9-0). Syracuse has only lost four sets all season. However, the Stony Brook women weren’t about to let themselves become the Orange’s next victim. They kept the contest close, trailing only 15-14 in the first set.
But that’s where things began to go wrong. Syracuse won the next three points. Stony Brook struggled back to close the gap to 21-19, but the Orange won four of the next five points to claim the first set. Stony Brook hit .391 for that set.
The Seawolves continued to fight in the second set, keeping the score close. Stony Brook trailed Syracuse 9-6 after a kill by Katilin Costello (Webster, N.Y.). Then Syracuse went on a 8-1 run and later closed out the set, winning by eleven points.
The third set was a seesaw battle with Syracuse striking the first major blow. They secured a 13-6 lead, but Stony Brook responded with three consecutive points. Then the Orange had another streak of success, expanding their lead to 21-13. The Seawolves then struck back again, brining the score to 24-19. However, Noemie Lefebvre closed out the match for Syracuse with a kill.
Headen recorded a team-high eight kills with a .538 attack percentage. They will play on Saturday first against Harvard at 11:30 a.m. and will then play against the hosting Rose Hill Rams at 7 p.m.
