For Central Connecticut Volleyball’s first match at home, it marked “a new video board, new locker room and a new season,” according to head coach Linda Sagnelli. It also marked the Blue Devils’ first win at home.

CCSU held an invitational tournament for the first time since 2016, hosting St. Peter’s, University of Rhode Island and Bucknell.

After implementing a new offense last week, the Blue Devils played a fast paced and tight game against their first opponent St. Peter’s.

The first set proved to be the most dominant for the Blue Devils. Two aces from sophomore Samantha McCreath helped propel Central Connecticut State to a run of seven straight points against the Peacocks (she would finish the game with four aces). Central would only commit one error on their way to a .469 hitting percentage in the first set and forced a .045 percentage from St. Peter’s en route to a 25-10 set victory.

St. Peter’s led in the second set early, but the 8-7 lead was the last and only time the Blue Devils would trail in the match. CCSU was unable to close out the second set in the same convincing manner as the first, but still walked away with the 25-22 set win.

“In the first set, we had a lot more rhythm and played our game,” Sagnelli said. “In the second and third set, I thought we let down a little bit.”

The Blue Devils were again unable to match their first set energy in the third. The defense was able to stifle St. Peter’s, forcing only a .027 hitting percentage, but did not have the same output offensively. Central committed seven errors but still walked away with the set win to sweep St. Peter’s for their first win on their home court of the season.

Senior Emma Henderson was absent from the game because of a knee injury sustained last week (she would return for Saturday’s game) but all 14 other Blue Devils saw playing time in the match against St. Peter’s.

“You don’t get to do that very often where 1-14 gets to play,” Sagnelli said. “Some played more than others but it’s nice to get everyone on the court to get some experience.”

The Blue Devils’ second game of the tournament came against a 6-1 Bucknell team that was rolling after a sweep of the URI earlier in the tournament.

Every set of the second match was back and forth, with momentum swings and lead changes coming early and often.

A kill from Gala Galabova would start off the first set for the Blue Devils as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Bucknell was able to storm back however, and scored 15 to Central’s six to close out the set with a 25-14 victory.

The Blue Devils did not hang their heads on their first set loss for long and quickly snapped back in the second.

“They had us on the ropes at times,” Sagnelli said on the match. “Then all of the sudden, we just clicked and we had them on the ropes.”

Central grabbed an early 7-3 lead with the help of two McCreath kills, but were unable to push it any further before Bucknell came roaring back. With Central leading 20-14, Bucknell used two aces along with three errors from the Blue Devils to help tie the game at 20. Neither team could pull away however, unable to score the two straight necessary to take the set. With Central leading 28-27, two Bucknell errors ended the set to even the match for the Blue Devils.

The third set again saw the Blue Devils on the losing end of the momentum shift, losing 25-16. CCSU committed seven errors in the set, their most in the match.

With their backs against the wall, the Blue Devils were able to once again answer in the fourth.

Central scored nine straight to kick off the fourth set and wouldn’t do much looking back. The Blue Devils hit their best hitting percentage of the match in the fourth (.350) as they took the set in a convincing 25-15 win.

The true battle between the teams came in the decisive fifth set. With the teams knotted at six apiece, the Blue Devils were unable to close out against the Bison. McCreath scored two of Central’s final four kills, but a Bucknell 3-0 run proved insurmountable for the Blue Devils, as the Bison took the set 15-10 to win the match.

“The scores on that match had a lot of momentum swings,” Sagnelli said. “And we were just on the wrong end of the swing on the last set.”

Though the results were not as planned, Sagnelli explained that, “we need teams to push us like that so we can find out what we’re weak at so we can get stronger and find out our strengths so we can continue to develop those…We learn as a coaching staff what the capabilities of our team is and we learned a lot today.”

Senior Madelyn Kaprelyan secured her second triple-double of the season with 11 kills, 22 assists and 11 digs.

The Blue Devils timestamps were still fresh when they clocked back in for the third and final game of the tournament. After its intense five set battle, Central took a (roughly) hour long break before taking on URI.

In a similar fashion to the Bucknell game, both teams battled back and forth through the first sets. CCSU did not match the energy brought against the Bison and narrowly lost in back-to-back sets. Central snapped out of it in the third, but had some ground to cover.

The Blue Devils hit an even .500 as a team in the third, outplaying URI on their way to a convincing 25-16 set win. Sagnelli was hopeful CCSU would once again force five sets, but after a late 22-21 lead from the Blue Devils, URI would pull away to secure the set and match.

“[Bucknell] was an emotional game, and it took us a little while to kick into gear again,” Sagnelli said. “We felt that we lost an edge, our foot was not on the gas pedal anymore…They acknowledged that and changed their outlook, and got more engaged in the match.”

Sagnelli did not affirm that Bucknell’s game lead to CCSU’s performance, but added “you don’t know to what extent that factors in, but it certainly did in the first set.”

The Blue Devils will again be able to focus on honing their new offense this weekend, as they play in the Hartford Invitational Tournament on Friday and Saturday.