ELON, N.C. – The Stony Brook volleyball team concluded its regular season today with a pivotal victory and clinched its first-ever playoff ticket into the CAA Tournament after defeating the Elon Phoenix in a five set thriller. Not only did the squad comeback after dropping the first two sets this afternoon, but the Seawolves ended Elon's six-match conference winning streak.
The Seawolves battled back and forth with the Phoenix in the first two sets, but were unable to seize a victory in either set. The squad jumped out to a 9-4 lead to begin the match today, however, Elon stormed right back on a run of 11-3 to take the advantage back and ultimately the opening set, 25-21.
During the second set, Seawolves went storming to an 8-4 lead and held the advantage at 13-9 after junior
Lauren Schmitz placed an ace to force an Elon timeout. But, the Phoenix would eventually go on a 6-0 run when Stony Brook led 19-16, and captured the second set again, 25-21.
However, Stony Brook did not rollover in the third set as they hung on to pick up a 25-21 victory. Freshman
Kali Moore recorded her 10
th kill on the day and 300
th of the season after senior
Julia Kim set up the outside hitter for a smash to earn the milestone. The third set was led by Moore who recorded four kills and junior
Leoni Kunz collecting six in the set.
The Seawolves carried that momentum over into the fourth set as it rolled to a 25-20 victory to tie the match at 2-2. The middle blocker duo of junior
Abby Campbell and sophomore
Saige Bradley gave the squad a 4-1 lead to start the set after the tandem both recorded kills. After the Phoenix tied the match at 11-11, it was all Stony Brook as the Seawolves went on an 8-1 to run to separate themselves and take the set, 25-20.
A fifth and final set was needed to determine the fate of the matchup and the Stony Brook playoff hopes and it did not disappoint. In the race to 15 points, the squad began the match sizzling as they jumped out to a 6-3 lead after kills from Moore, Campbell, Kunz, and a service ace from Kim. Following a change of sides when Stony Brook led 8-6, the squad ran away with the final set by going on a late 5-1 run to take the deciding set, 15-11.
STATS AND NOTES
- Moore continued her standout freshman campaign by registering her 10th double-double of the season and her second 20-20 match after mashing 20 kills and collecting 20 digs. The freshman swung at .364 and is now fifth in the CAA in kills (310).
- Campbell was second on the team today with 17 kills, two blocks, four digs, and led the squad with four aces. The junior recorded 27 kills and six blocks this weekend vs Elon.
- Kunz returned to the starting lineup today and made her presence felt, as the Tennessee native finished with 16 kills and four digs. It was the 12th time this season that the junior recorded 10 or more kills.
- Senior Julia Kim had a season-high 35 assists and 12 digs in the victory. Junior Torri Henry collected 25 helpers and eight digs.
- Defensively, junior libero Julia Patsos continued her standout efforts in the back row as the Long Island native finished with a team-high tying 20 digs and dished out five assists. It was just the second time this season that Patsos had 20 or more digs after collecting 30 at Delaware.
- This was the first victory in program history against Elon and with the win, Stony Brook clinched its first-ever berth into the CAA Tournament.
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"What an incredible fight from this group to earn another weekend! We couldn't be more excited to be in the CAA Championship next week. Down 2-0 I could see we were locked in to make the adjustments we needed to and this group chose to do everything they could to earn the W. Very proud of our team and excited to build on this momentum," said head coach
Kristin Belzung.
UP NEXT
Stony Brook's season continues next Thursday, November 17, in the CAA Quarterfinals against No. 1 Towson. First serve is slated for 11 a.m.
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