Sept. 10, 2011

Box Score

New Britain - Senior Alicia Nelson(Apple Valley, Minn.) hit .609 and tallied a career-high 15 kills to lead the Stony Brook University volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-19) victory over St. Peter's at the CCSU Invitational on Saturday. SBU lost in four sets (25-19, 25-21, 26-28, 25-11) to the host Blue Devils in the second match of the day.

Nelson added 19 kills and nine digs against Central Connecticut. Sophomore Greta Strenger (Woodbury, Minn.) chipped in with a season-high 13 kills against the Blue Devils. Freshman Laura Hathaway(Warsaw, N.Y.) registered a career-high 23 digs against CCSU and was named to the All-Tournament team along with Nelson.

SBU dominated right from the start against St. Peter's, scoring the first five points on its way to a 14-5 lead. The Peahens got within four at 15-11 but the Seawolves scored the next three points and St. Peter's got no closer than five the rest of the way.

Stony Brook controlled the second set early as well, taking a 16-9 advantage behind four early kills from Nelson. St. Peter's cut the SBU lead to 21-16 before the Seawolves scored four of the final five points to take a 2-0 lead.

The third set was a bit closer as Stony Brook led just 16-15 following a kill from Chloe Rost. But Nelson answered with a kill and then followed with an ace to push the SBU lead back to three.

St. Peter's again got within one at 19-18 but a kill from freshman Katrina Doherty(Irvine, Calif.) made it 20-18 before back-to-back attack errors from the Peahens gave SBU a four-point lead. Doherty closed out the set and the match a few points later with her sixth kill of the match.

In the second match of the day against CCSU, the Seawolves fell behind two sets to nothing. In the opening set, Stony Brook trailed just 17-14 following a kill from sophomore Kaitlin Costello(Webster, N.Y.). But the Blue Devils scored the next three points and SBU got no closer than five the rest of the way.

Stony Brook fell behind 20-12 in set two but then went on an 8-2 run capped by a kill from Strenger to pull within 22-20. But CCSU scored three of the final four points to take the 2-0 lead.

The Seawolves jumped back in the match in a closely contested third set as neither team led by more than three. The Blue Devils fought off two set points before a Strenger kill closed things out.

SBU kept things close early in the fourth set, trailing just 14-9 after a kill from Nelson. But CCSU ran off seven of the next eight points to take control of the set as they went on to the 3-1 victory to snap the Seawolves two-match winning streak.

The Seawolves return to action next weekend at the Bucknell Invitational.