In the Blue Devils’ first match of the season, they took on a Central Arkansas team that finished last year with an impressive 26-7 record. Central Connecticut looked strong out of the first set against the powerhouse.

With the game tied at 16, CCSU would benefit from six Central Arkansas errors to help them push it to a 22-18 lead . The Blue Devils quickly took care of business, with reigning NEC Player of the Year Madelyn Kaprelyan scoring six kills en route to a 25-21 set victory.

Central Arkansas would be the beneficiaries of nine errors in the second set, which contributed to them losing 16-25.

After a split of the first two sets, the two teams went back and forth through the third. Central Connecticut stormed back from a late five-point deficit and drew within a point before a kill from Central Arkansas put the nail in the coffin, securing a 25-22 set victory.

The fourth was another contentious set between the teams. CCSU would break away from the Sugar Bears with a 6-1 run to put them up 24-20, before winning on an error from UCA.

The Sugar Bears ran away with the fifth and final set, coming out the gates scoring seven straight. CCSU was able to come back to within three, but ultimately lost the set and match 15-10.

Senior setter Erin McDermott moved the ball around well for the Blue Devils, finishing the match with 30 assists, the second-highest mark of her career.

After Friday’s tough loss, the Blue Devils came to play Saturday with a chip on their shoulder against Rider University. CCSU was quick to assert its dominance in the first set. The first four points of the set fell to Central with the help of back-to-back kills from junior Samantha McCreath. The Blue Devils would lead by as much as 14 through the set, easily winning 25-15.

The second set showed more of the same. Nine straight points, with three coming from Henderson, contributed to a commanding 24-7 lead. The Blue Devils hit a jaw-dropping .348 as a team in the second set, with an impressive line of .255 for the game.

Nine errors in the third and final set made it easy for the Blue Devils to lock up their first victory and the first sweep, of the season, winning 25-11. Rider would commit 29 errors while CCSU played an extremely clean game, with only seven errors on the day. Due to all of the errors from the Broncos, the Blue Devils only needed 31 total kills to knock down Rider. Nine different Blue Devils would score these kills, with senior Emma Henderson leading the way with seven.

The Blue Devils would play the Tournament’s namesake last, taking on Big East’s Georgetown. The Blue Devils looked primed to take down the goliath that is the Bulldogs, even leading by three midway through the first set. Georgetown would storm back to tie the game at 18 and use a 5-1 run to push a lead of their own. The Bulldogs would take the first set 25-22.

CCSU looked strong to start the second set, using three errors from the Bulldogs to jump out to a 5-2 lead. Georgetown’s offense was quickly ignited, however, scoring seven straight points. The Blue Devils would not lead again through the set, losing 25-22.

Georgetown did not look back in the third set, using a run of eight to catapult themselves into the lead. The Blue Devils would not draw closer than five, ultimately losing the final set 15-25.

The Blue Devils will continue their tour of powerhouse teams, as they have the UConn Challenge Tournament next weekend, Sep. 6-7. The team will be playing Boston College and UConn and will also take on head coach Linda Sagnelli’s coaching alma matter Iona. Sagnelli coached for 14 seasons at Iona, while also coaching softball. She was named coach of the year in both sports, a feat that has never been accomplished before in the MAAC.