HOBOKEN, N.J. (October 14, 2016) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team topped FDU-Florham in three sets before dropping a five set match to Springfield during day one action of the Stevens Invitational.
The Ducks are now 22-3 after the split Friday.
STEVENS 3, FDU-FLORHAM 0 (25-12, 25-13, 25-9)
Stevens hit no worse than .310 in any of the three sets, and kept their opponents below .083 in all three. The Ducks dominated in every facet of play, tallying 41 kills, 12 aces, and 11 blocks.
Freshman
Shelby Stewart had seven total blocks in two sets, while freshman
Kristen Edmiston served up three consecutive aces in the final frame. Senior
Becca Youngman had 12 digs while junior
Sydni Horner had 16, and senior
Christina Sciarra was the top hitter with 12 kills.
SPRINGFIELD 3, STEVENS 2 (25-17, 21-25, 25-17, 17-25, 10-15)
Stevens pulled ahead in the first set for good thanks to a Sciarra kill to go up 11-10. A Pride kill cut the Ducks lead to 20-17, but Stevens tallied the final five markers, capped up with an ace from sophomore
Emily Piekarski. Springfield never trailed in the second set, but with the visitors leading 20-15, six of the eight points went in favor of Stevens, the rally finished with a freshman double-team block from
Casey King and
Shelby Stewart. But the Pride held off and scored the final three points to even the match.
Stevens used five straight tallies in set three to extend their edge to 10-5, but the gap was shrunk to one after a 4-0 spurt the other way. Another 5-0 run with King serving stretched the lead to eight, and Springfield couldn't get any closer than six the rest of the stanza. Springfield never trailed in the fourth either, and used a double block to knot the match at two sets each.
The fifth set belonged to the Pride, notching nine of the first 11 points, putting Stevens in a hole they could not escape. Despite scoring the next six, Stevens would surrender a set-changing 5-1 run, setting up match point. Stevens thwarted three match points before succumbing to a kill to end the comeback hopes.
King had 18 kills and 17 digs in her return to the starting lineup, while senior
Mary Tobin had a double-double of 13 kills and 12 digs. Sophomore
Brianna Perez dished out 52 assits, while freshman
Sara Hain had 13 kills and five blocks. Stewart also notched five kills and eight total blocks in the setback.
The Ducks will face Montclair State at 11 a.m. before taking on Haverford at 3 p.m.
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