By Chris McLaughlin
The CCSU volleyball team defeated NEC rival St. Francis (PA) in five sets on Sunday.
With the win, CCSU improved their record to 8-15 (5-6 NEC). The win helps secure fourth place in the conference, allowing CCSU to participate in the NEC tournament.
CCSU lost the first set 25-18, but rebounded to win the second set 25-23. They went on to lose the third set 25-20 but once again bounced back in the next set to win 25-18. In the final set, CCSU came out on top 15-12 to complete the match with a victory.
“We were very inconsistent today,” said Head Coach Linda Sagnelli. “It was very frustrating, but we were lucky to pull it out.”
CCSU got off to a slow start, dropping the first set of the match. St. Francis led in every stat during the first set. The were able to score on 13 of their attacks with a kill percentage of .357.
They were also able to dominate the net, posting six blocks to CCSUs none. Emily Cochran led the way for CCSU with three kills, but had just as many errors as she did kills. The errors cost CCSU during the first set, as they made more than St. Francis, including 2 blocking errors.
“Our block wasn’t setting itself very well, it took us to game four before we started playing defense,” said Sagnelli.
While CCSU won the second set, St. Francis errors played a large role. St. Francis had 11 attack errors and five serve errors that helped CCSU come back from the one-set deficit.
The Blue Devils’ kills were spread out with four girls having two a piece. CCSU had less kills during the second set, but were able to commit less errors on the attacks to overcome St. Francis.
“Blaike picked it up tremendously. Emily was struggling with her attacks, their blockers seemed to be waiting on her, so it was huge to have Blaike play the way she did,” said Sagnelli.
The third set went much the same way as the first, with St. Francis making less errors and dominating the net. St. Francis had twice as many blocks as CCSU did during the set, and committed less errors than they had all match. They also were able to score on 17 attacks with a percentage that almost doubled the Blue Devil’s.
Lindsey Malloy led all scorers with seven kills for St. Francis, while Blaike King had six of her own to lead CCSU.
“St. Francis played great today. They gave us a lot of trouble, but these girls have been fighting like crazy the past two weeks, I knew they weren’t going to give up,” said Sagnelli.
During the fourth set, CCSU came alive, and finally had a set where they were able to impose their will. Emily Cochran and Sara DeLacey posted four kills a piece and Jamie Rademacher had three blocks to help CCSU overcome another one set deficit. St. Francis once again made more errors than CCSU, but they didn’t impact the outcome as much as they had before.
With the performance in the fourth set, CCSU was able to carry momentum into the fifth and final set.
“The defense finally showed up in the fourth set. Jamie started to close the block and did a great job preventing them from getting easy kills,” said Sagnelli.
For the second straight day, the CCSU volleyball team fought their way back to force a fifth set. While they weren’t able to pull out a victory the day before, today was a different story. CCSU kept up their momentum from the previous set, and for the first time all match, a team won two consecutive sets.
Emily Cochran no longer seemed to have difficulty hitting her spots on the attacks, and led CCSU with six kills. CCSU was able to score on 11 attacks during the fifth set which kept them in the lead the whole set. They also combined for 11 digs which more than doubled St. Francis.
The match was closed out on a Emily Cochran kill that was her most emphatic of the day.
“The last point was the biggest of the day, she had been struggling so it was big she was able to fight through it and get that last one off.” said Sagnelli.
CCSU goes on the road this week to play St. Francis (NY) on Friday and Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday. They return home on November 10 to face Sacred Heart and play their final home game of the season on November 13 to play Long Island.
“The Long Island game is going to be a good one,” said Sagnelli. “They beat us earlier in the season, and we cant wait to get them back. I know I can’t anyway, too bad my eligibility is up.”
