Oct. 28, 2012

Final Stats

West Hartford, Conn. - Freshmen Melissa Rigo (East Northport, N.Y.) and Nicole Vogel (Costa Mesa, Calif.) put on a dominating performance as Rigo had a career-high 25 kills and Vogel recorded a career-high 50 assists to lead the Stony Brook volleyball team to a 3-1 (25-15, 25-13, 24-26, 25-18) victory over Hartford Sunday afternoon at the Sports Center.

The Seawolves completed a weekend sweep of Albany and Hartford to improve to 4-4 in America East. SB is now just a half game behind UMBC for the final spot in next week's America East Championship with four matches remaining to play.

Head Coach Deb DesLauriers' Reaction
"Today was another great team win on the road. We executed both offensively and defensively. Melissa had a career day, Nicole ran a great offense, Greta was instrumental on both sides of the ball and Hailee played great defense. Today and Friday's win were extremely important road victories for us going forward.

By the Numbers

• Stony Brook hit .300 as a team for the third time this season (vs. Quinnipiac, at Providence). 
• Rigo posted her sixth 20-kill match of the season, and she extended her double-digit kill streak to all 21 matches this season.
• Rigo hit a career-high .452, made even more impressive by the fact that she handled 42 attack attempts.
• Vogel's 50 assists make it just the fifth time a SB setter has individually cracked the 50 mark since the start of 2010.
• Senior Greta Strenger (Woodbury, Minn.) posted her first double-double of the season with 13 kills and 16 digs.
• Junior Hailee Herc (Eden, N.Y.) had a game-high 20 digs.

Key Moments

• In the first set, Stony Brook led 10-8 when junior Evann Slaughter (Clinton, Md.) started a four-point run with a kill. That followed with three Hartford errors, including a Rigo block that put the Seawolves on top 14-8. Rigo finished with seven kills and two blocks in the set, including the set-winner. Vogel assisted on 13 of SB's 25 points.
• The second set was all Seawolves. Rigo picked up four kills in the early going, including a smash from Vogel that put the score at 8-2 and forced a Hartford timeout. The Seawolves had a 10-point lead at 17-7 and went on to win by 12. Rigo had eight kills in the set, and Vogel assisted on 15 of SB's 25 points.
• Stony Brook was well on its way to a sweep, holding a 20-9 lead, but the Hawks found life and sprung a 17-4 run to win 26-24. Kami and Sareeta Nethersole combined for seven kills during the run.
• The fourth set featured many errors by both teams, but the Seawolves shook it off and came up big at the end by winning seven of the last nine points. Strenger used her senior experience to come up huge, first with a kill to make it 19-16. Then coming out of a timeout, she took a pass from Vogel and set up a kill to make it 22-17. She finished off the set on match point with another kill from Vogel.

Next Up
Stony Brook returns home for the final four matches of the regular season. Looking to position itself for an America East Championship berth, the team will host Providence Friday night at Pritchard Gym at 7 p.m.