HOBOKEN, N.J. (September 30, 2011) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team dropped a five-set match to Richard Stockton College, 3-2, in the first match of the Ducks Invitational at Canavan Arena on Friday afternoon. Stevens led, 2-1, after three sets but lost the final two to end up on the wrong end of the five-set decision. Against the No. 18 ranked UMass-Boston, the Ducks dropped all three sets.
In the first set, Stevens jumped out to a 7-2 lead after a kill by junior Maggie Kowalska. Stockton responded with three straight points to bring the set to within one point. Kowalska ran off three points in a row for the Ducks with two kills and a block to increase Stevens' lead to 10-6. Stockton refused to go away, as it went on a 6-1 run to take the team's first lead of the set, 12-11, and forced Stevens to take a timeout. All the momentum stayed with the Ospreys, as they finished the first set by outscoring the Ducks, 13-7, and won, 25-18.
Set two was a back-and-forth battle, as neither team held an advantage of more than three points until the Ducks pushed their lead to 11-7, after a carry by the Ospreys. The next Ducks point scored on a kill by senior Kate Janes, forced Stockton to take a timeout to try and stop the Ducks' momentum. The strategy did not work, as Stevens came out of the break on a 5-1 run and built its lead to 17-8, causing Stockton to burn another timeout. The Ospreys then ran off four straight points, but blocks by sophomores Chrissy Dickinson and Mary Caulson pushed the Ducks lead back out to eight, 20-12. Freshman Katie Hall picked up two of the next four points for Stevens on kills and put the Ducks within one point of the set, 24-16. Stockton would not go down easily, as it scored five consecutive points before serving the ball into the net and ending the second set, 25-21, in favor of Stevens.
Dickinson recorded eight kills and a team-high six blocks, while Caulson and Janes combined for 11 kills and 14 digs. Hall was second on the team with 10 kills.
The third set may have been the most exciting of all, as both teams stayed within two points of each other up until Caulson recorded a kill to give Stevens a 17-14 lead. Kowalska registered the ensuing point on one of her 17 kills in the match and made Stockton use a timeout. Janes then put the set away, as she tallied three consecutive points for the Ducks on two kills and a block, giving Stevens a 23-14 advantage. The Ducks would go on to win the third set, 25-19, after the set-ending kill by Dickinson.
As the fourth set started, Stevens seemed to have all the answers to win the match, but Stockton would never trailed in the set, and after a 4-4 tie, the Ospreys ran off three points on two separate occasions to take a 9-6 lead and never let the Ducks get within more than four points of the set, and won 25-16.
The fifth and final set was all Stockton. The Ospreys started off on a 4-0 run before allowing the Ducks to get a tally on the board. They then scored six straight points, increasing the lead to 10-1, before ending the match, 15-2.
Sophomores Samantha Gates and Ashley Castillo dished out a combined 42 assists. Gates handed out 27, while Castillo tallied 15.
In the three-set loss to UMass-Boston, 26-24, 25-15, 25-23, Kowalska led the squad 18 kills. She also added five digs and two blocks.
Dickinson recorded nine kills and four blocks, while Gates posted a team-high 16 assists and eight digs. Senior Andrea Bucko also saw action at the setter position and dished out five helpers along with two digs. Castillo also was the team's setter in the match and tallied eight assists with four digs.
Three Ducks recorded five digs each in, Gasper, Janes and Caulson. Caulson chipeed in three kills as well.
Hall posted four kills to go along with two blocks.
In the first set, Stevens held the lead for half the set until Boston recorded an ace to turn the score in their favor, 11-10. From there, the set went back-and-forth in ties and one-point advantages until the Beacons earned the set-ending point at 26-24.
In set two, the Ducks only led 1-0 and 2-1. After Boston went up, 6-2, Stevens were never able to bring the set to within that margin.
The final set was another close battle, as Stevens jumped out to an 8-5 lead, and held onto that lead until the Beacons tied it up at 12. Stevens regained the lead at 15-14, and protected the advantage up to a 20-20 deadlock. The final five points were traded up until the final two points, which swung to the side of the Beacons.
Stevens is back in action tomorrow morning, October 1, as it takes on Baruch College at 10 a.m. and No. 19 SUNY Cortland at 2 p.m.
In other action on the day, Cortland, and UMass-Boston went 2-0, Baruch and Richard Stockton College were each 1-1, while Stevens and NYU-Poly went 0-2.
