STONY BROOK, N.Y. – Returning to the court for the first time since their historic Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) five-set thriller victory at William & Mary last Sunday, the Stony Brook University volleyball team triumphed again this afternoon as the squad captured their first-ever CAA win inside the notorious Pritchard Gymnasium against Hampton University.
After falling to an early three-point deficit in the first set, the Seawolves stormed back on a 9-2 run in the middle of the set to take control, and ultimately defeat the Lady Pirates, 25-16. The teams went back and forth in the second set that featured six ties and four lead changes, but the Seawolves took command late with the help of four kills from junior
Abby Campbell. The middle-blocker led all players today with 14 kills and has collected 31 kills in her last two matches.
Following a 25-20 drop in the third set, Stony Brook and Hampton battled tight for the first half of the fourth set. The Lady Pirates would tie the match at 10-10, however the relentless defensive effort and capitalizing on Hampton's mistakes helped the Seawolves to a similar run from set one (8-1), leading the squad to a 25-18 final-set victory.
For the first time this season, Stony Brook had four different players capture 10 or more kills. Campbell led the way with 14, a season-high of 13 kills by junior
Lauren Schmitz, and 11 kills by junior
Leoni Kunz and freshman
Kali Moore. Junior setter
Torri Henry paced the offense with 39 assists. The Missouri native is just 50 dimes away from being one of eight Stony Brook setters to have 2,000 career assists in program history.
STATS AND NOTES
- Campbell finished with a match-high of 14 kills. Also, the junior had six total blocks, a dig, and service ace in the victory.
- Henry is now just 50 assists away from 2,000 for her career and 24 away from 600 for the season. The junior is fourth in total sets (576) and assists per set (9.64) in the CAA.
- Moore recorded her team-high ninth double-double of the season, after the freshman had 11 kills and collected 10 digs. Moore leads the team with 190 kills on the season and leads all freshman in the CAA in kills.
- Kunz had her eighth match this season with 10 or more kills, as the Tennessee native notched 11 kills this afternoon.
- The squad led in almost every category this afternoon, including blocks (9), assists (42), digs (50), and hitting percentage (.331).
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"We are excited to get the win today... I thought we did a good job of being in system and executing offensively from that. Hampton ramped up their serving in the third set and I thought we got a little high error but I was proud of the way we fought back defensively in the fourth. We're excited to be back in Pritchard tomorrow." -head coach
Kristin Belzung
NEXT UP
The Seawolves will be hunting for their third straight CAA victory as the squad returns to Pritchard Gymnasium tomorrow at noon to take on the Lady Pirates for the second of two matches versus Hampton.
The match is free to attend and open to the public and are set to broadcast on
FloVolleyball.
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