FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Stony Brook volleyball team concluded play at the Sacred Heart Tournament with a split on Sunday. The Seawolves got the day started by defeating Big East foe Seton Hall in a five-set thriller. They then went on to fall to tournament host Sacred Heart in four sets in their second match of the day.
Stony Brook and Seton Hall traded sets before the Seawolves ultimately pulled away in the deciding set to pick up their first win over the Pirates since the 2004 season.
The Seawolves were fueled by a trio of student-athletes who recorded double-digits in kills. Freshman outside hitter
Kali Moore, junior outside hitter
Leoni Kunz, and junior middle blocker
Abby Campbell all tallied over 10 kills in the match. Moore led the way with 15 finishes, while Kunz and Campbell had 12 and 10 kills, respectively.
Stony Brook took the first and third sets to take a 2-1 advantage in the match. Seton Hall forced a fifth and deciding set after it won the fourth, 25-13. The Seawolves pushed through and battled their way to a 15-7 win in the fifth set to clinch the win.
In the second match of the day, Stony Brook and Sacred Heart locked up in a back-and-forth contest. The Pioneers were able to outlast the Seawolves and won the match in four sets.
After dropping the opening set, Stony Brook rallied to tie the match up at 1-1 with a 25-18 win in the second set. Sacred Heart went on to capture the third and fourth sets to seal the victory.
Moore and Kunz were both tabbed to the All-Tournament Team for their standout performance over three matches this weekend.
MATCH 1: STONY BROOK – 3, SETON HALL – 2 (25-21, 20-25, 27-25, 13-25, 15-7)
- Stony Brook and Seton Hall went head-to-head for the first time since October 21, 2014. The Seawolves earned their first win over the Pirates since October 3, 2004, when they picked up a sweep.
- It was Stony Brook's second five-set victory of the season (also beat Fordham in five sets on Aug. 28).
- Moore recorded her third double-double of the season with 15 kills and 13 digs. It was the third time in her young career that she recorded double-digits in kills. Moore added two service aces en route to a 17-point day.
- Kunz registered 12 kills on .308 hitting. It was the fourth time this season that she finished a match with 10 or more kills.
- Campbell was a force in the middle as she totaled 10 kills on a blistering .444 hitting.
- Junior setter Torri Henry dished out 40 assists and picked up eight digs. It was the third time this season that she handed out 40 or more assists in a match.
- Junior libero Julia Patsos picked up 13 digs.
MATCH 2: STONY BROOK – 1, SACRED HEART – 3 (24-26, 25-18, 19-25, 26-28)
- Stony Brook and Sacred Heart met for the first time since September 21, 2019.
- Moore recorded her second double-double of the day with a team-high 20 kills and 12 digs. It was her fourth career double-double and second time she totaled 20 or more kills in a match (recorded 21 kills against Fordham on Aug. 28). She hit a blistering .429 which was her highest single-match hitting percentage this season.
- Kunz was a force for the Seawolves as she hit .370 and notched 15 kills. It marked her second-straight match with 10 or more kills and has recorded double-digit kills in four out of her last five matches.
- Garr came off the bench to register a season-high 12 kills on .429 hitting.
- Henry handed out 53 assists and picked up six digs. It was her third 50-plus assist match this season and the 53 helpers tied her season-high.
- Patsos recorded a season-high tying 16 digs and has picked up 10 or more digs in seven out of the first eight matches of the season.
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"The fight from our group today was great. I thought we showed really good toughness gritting out the five-set win against Seton Hall this morning. We made adjustments as the match went on and I thought settling and being confident in the fifth set showed maturity after a rough fourth.
The second match was back and forth from the beginning. Offensively, I thought we finally found a rhythm and got into the tempo we'd like to run. We struggled to stop the players we needed to down the stretch and that was the difference.
We are excited about the progress we've made through non-conference play and are looking forward to continuing to build as we start CAA play next weekend," said head coach
Kristin Belzung.
NEXT UP
Stony Brook is back in action to open up CAA play next week. The Seawolves welcome Long Island rival Hofstra to Pritchard Gymnasium on Saturday, September 17, and Sunday, September 18. Both matches will be played at 1 p.m., and stream live on
FloVolleyball.
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