It was a crucial Northeast Conference volleyball match when Central Connecticut hosted Bryant on Friday, as the two teams were top three in the standings. But it was Bryant who prevailed, beating the Blue Devils in straight sets.

With the loss, the Blue Devils are now in a tie with the Bulldogs in second place in the conference standings. Despite the loss, the Blue Devils had 10 more blocks than Bryant, winning the battle around the net 15-5.

Head coach Linda Sagnelli addressed this statistic after the game.

“Their defense picked up an incredible amount of balls, some of them were really hard hits, and our defense did not match theirs tonight,” Sanelli said.

Juniors Madelyn Kaprelyan and Erin McDermott each recorded double-digit assists and sophomore Emma Henderson had a seven-kill outing.

Other notable performances for the Blue Devils include junior Gala Galabova, who posted a match-leading eight blocks and senior Kaitlyn Kushman with 12 digs.

The first set began with Central looking to have control of the match, coming out to a lead of 4-1 and expanding that lead to as much as 14-9.

The Bulldogs responded to CCSU’s intensity and went on an 8-2 run to take a 17-16 lead. The game stayed close after the run, at 21-21 after a Kaprelyan kill. Bryant would proceed to go on a 4-0 run and end the match 25-21.

“It was frustrating. You could see that we had a breakdown in execution and that hurt us in that first set,” Sagnelli said of her team’s struggles in the first set.

The second set of the night was started off strong by Bryant, as the Bulldogs came out to a 6-1 lead.

Bryant’s start set the tone for the entire set, as Central would not be able to get as close as 6-3 for the entire match. The set ended with a score of 25-14 in favor of Bryant.

“You can’t be worrying about points that have already been scored while trying to win the point being played,” Sagnelli said of her team’s second set performance.

The Bulldog’s dominance followed into the third set, going on a 5-0 run to start and forcing Sagnelli to call an early timeout.

After the timeout, Central looked much more composed, closing Bryant’s lead to 16-14. Despite the Blue Devil’s momentum swing, Bryant was able to keep their lead and eventually close out the match-clinching set at 25-21.

After this match, the Blue Devils’ conference record fell to 8-10 overall and 5-2 in the NEC.

Central will be looking to bounce back in their next match at Robert Morris, who has a 2-5 NEC record.