Aug. 26, 2011

Temple Box Score
Montana Box Score

Philadelphia, Pa. - Senior Alicia Nelson (Apple Valley, Minn.) had 18 kills and 21 digs but the Stony Brook volleyball team dropped a 3-2 (25-17, 25-18, 18-25, 20-25, 18-16) thriller against Temple on the opening day of the Temple Invitational on Friday. SBU then dropped a 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 16-25, 20-25) decision to Montana in the second game of the day.

Nelson was one of four Seawolves to register double-digit kills against Temple as sophomore Evann Slaughter (Clinton, Md.) and junior Greta Strenger (Woodbury, Minn.) added 11 and sophomore Kaitlin Costello (Webster, N.Y.) chipped in with 10. Freshman Laura Hathaway (Warsaw, N.Y.) tallied 21 digs in her first match for Stony Brook.

Nelson led Stony Brook with 21 kills on a .308 hitting percentage against Montana. Hathaway against totaled 21 digs against the Grizzlies.

Temple (1-0) jumped on the Seawolves early, grabbing a 7-1 lead in the opening set. SBU trimmed their deficit to 12-10 on an Owls attack error but Temple scored eight of the next 10 points to take a 20-12 advantage.

Stony Brook got within 21-17 on a block from Strenger and Costello but the Owls then scored four straight points to take a 1-0 lead. SBU held Temple to a .206 attack percentage but hit just .171.

The Owls again jumped to an early lead in set two, scoring nine of the first 13 points. SBU got within 11-8 but that is as close as they would get as Temple pulled away for an eight-point victory.

Set three was close at the start with Stony Brook holding a 10-9 lead. But Stony Brook then went on a 7-2 run to take a 17-11 lead.

Temple got within three at 18-15 but Nelson answered with a kill and Hathaway followed with a service ace to give SBU a five-point lead. The Seawolves then put the set away on back-to-back kills from Strenger and Costello.

Stony Brook carried the momentum to the fourth, grabbing a 13-5 lead behind two early kills from both Strenger and Costello. SBU stretched its lead to 17-8 on a Temple service error before the Owls answered with a 9-4 run to close within 21-17.

But Nelson answered with back-to-back kills and freshman Taylor Gillie (Fort Wayne, Ind.) closed it out a few points later to send the match to a fifth set.

The teams were even early on in set five before Temple pushed out to a 12-9 lead. But the Seawolves once again had answer, rallying to tie the match at 13 on a block from Slaughter and Strenger.

Slaughter then combined on a block with Sullivan to put the Seawolves within one point of winning the match. But Temple tied it at 14, one of three Stony Brook match points that the Owls foiled.

Then, with the scored tied at 16, Temple scored back-to-back points to end the marathon match. The fifth set featured 10 ties and four lead changes.

Stony Brook jumped on Montana in the opening set, grabbing a 17-9 advantage. Montana slowly chipped away, getting within 24-23 before a Nelson kill gave SBU a 1-0 lead.

Set two was close early before the Grizzlies pushed out to a 19-13 lead but Stony Brook then went on a 9-4 run to pull within one. But Montana scored two of the next three points to take a 1-0 lead.

Montana jumped to a 8-1 lead in the third set and SBU never got closer than seven the rest of the way. Stony Brook looked to be in control of the fourth set early on, taking a 12-7 lead on an ace from Hathaway.

The Seawolves led 19-12 following a kill from Slaughter but Montana took control from there, going on a 13-1 set-ending run to end the match.

Stony Brook wraps up play in the Temple Invitational on Saturday, taking on South Carolina at 10 a.m.