Sept. 2, 2011
Stony Brook, N.Y. -
Stony Brook University's volleyball team dropped its first match of the Stony Brook Holiday Inn Express Tournament on Friday night at Pritchard Gymnasium, falling to the Kent State Golden Flashes, 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-16). Senior Alicia Nelson (Apple Valley, Minn.) led the Seawolves with 11 kills.
Senior Kelsey Sullivan (Hamilton, Va.) totaled 26 assists for Stony Brook while freshman Laura Hathaway (Warsaw, N.Y.) had a team-high 12 digs. Maigan Larsen led Kent State with 14 kills.
Kent State jumped out quick in the opening set, grabbing leads of 6-1 and 11-4. But Stony Brook slowly fought its way back, pulling within 13-9 on a kill from Nelson.
Trailing just 21-17 following another kill from Nelson, Kent State used consecutive blocks to push its lead back to six before closing the set out on a kill from Lauren Engleman.
Stony Brook dominated the beginning of the second set, scoring nine of the first 11 points. But Kent State answered with a 10-3 run to tie it at 12 and then took its first lead, 14-13, on a kill from Larsen.
With Stony Brook trailing 15-13, sophomore Evann Slaughter (Clinton, Md.) took over as she tallied kills on four straight points to put SBU up 17-15. But Kent State tied the match at 18 on a Slaughter attack error before taking the lead for good on a block by Kathy Krupa and Liz Reikow.
The Golden Flashes pushed their lead to 23-19 but a kill from Nelson and a KSU attack error trimmed the Stony Brook deficit to two. But Kent State scored the next two points to take a two sets to none lead.
Kent State again got out to an early lead in set three, going ahead 11-5. Stony Brook rallied though, pulling within 14-10 on a kill from sophomore Hailee Herc (Eden, N.Y.).
But Kent State scored nine of the next 10 points to take command before ending the set and the match on a kill from Larsen. Stony Brook hit .480 in the final set behind three kills each from Nelson and freshman Katrina Doherty (Irvine, Calif.).
The Seawolves return to action on Saturday, playing their final two matches of the Stony Brook Holiday Inn Express Tournament. SBU takes on Iona at 12:30 p.m. before facing off against Rhode Island at 5:30 p.m.
