STONY BROOK, NY – The Stony Brook women's volleyball team opened up their 2023 CAA slate this afternoon with a four set (23-25, 24-26, 25-17, 15-25) defeat against Northeastern University inside Pritchard Gymnasium.
The Seawolves were led by a double-double from Kali Moore, who registered 12 kills and 18 digs on the day. Abby Campbell also added 12 kills to help the offense and Torri Henry dished 47 assists. On the defensive end, Julia Patsos had 16 digs to go with four blocks from Campbell.
To begin the match, the Seawolves and Huskies went back and forth in the first 10 points by having six different lead changes. Northeastern took the advantage at 15-11 before jumping out to their largest lead at 19-13.
However, Stony Brook fought back by scoring six of the next seven points to cut the deficit to 20-19. Leading the charge was Lauren Schmitz and Julia Patsos each collecting a service-ace and Ayanna Pierre Louis slamming two kills. The Seawolves took the 22-21 lead following three straight kills by
Abby Campbell but the Huskies tallied four of the final points to take the set 25-23.
In the second set that had seven ties and two lead changes, it was the Huskies capturing the victory 26-24. Stony Brook wasted no time by jumping out to a 6-3 lead after Campbell and Kali Moore captured two blocks and a kill. Following the kill by Campbell that put the Seawolves ahead 10-7, the Huskies stormed back to tally five of the next six points that tied the set at 12-12.
Following the service-ace by Patsos to tie the set at 16-16, the Huskies tallied six of the next seven points to take a 22-17 advantage. Stony Brook did not go away without a fight. The squad went on a 7-2 run that was led by kills from Abby Stanwood, Pierre Louis, and Campbell to tie the set at 24-24. Northeastern came back to score the final two points to take the second set 26-24, respectively.
Looking to keep the match alive, Stony Brook rallied to grab the third set and make it a 2-1 match. The Seawolves took control of the set early when the score was 3-2 and never trailed to win 25-17. The squad ended on a strong note, opening up its biggest lead of the stanza, eight points, to finish off the set following the kill by Leoni Kunz.
The Stony Brook offense also got a boost from four aces in the stanza, including three conservative aces by Madison Cigna to give the Seawolves a 9-3 lead early in the set. Also, the front row had a solid defensive performance by blocking four Northeastern attacks in the stanza.
Northeastern and Stony Brook traded points in the fourth frame as the match was tied up nine times before the Huskies took a 12-11 advantage. The team from Massachusetts would go on to record eight more kills at a .294% rate to ultimately take the set 25-15 and the four-set victory.
GAME NOTES
- Stony Brook had three players in double figures in kills (Campbell, Moore, and Kunz).
- Stony Brook had four players in double figures in digs (Moore, Cigna, Patsos, and Henry).
- Cigna had a team-high three aces in the loss.
- Moore registered a double-double with a match-high 12 kills and court-high 18 digs. It was her second double-double of the season and 13th of her career. Also, 18 digs is a new season-high for Moore.
- Campbell finished with 12 kills in the defeat. It was the third time this year that the senior had 10 or more kills.
- Stony Brook attackers were helped by a match-high 47 assists from Henry. It was her third match of the season with over 40 assists.
- Cigna tied her career-high with 12 digs (12 against Loyola on Sept. 8).
- Pierre Louis had a career-best eight kills in the defeat.
- Stony Brook is now 4-10 all-time against Northeastern
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"Conference play is a different fight and I thought while we executed well for the most part today, it takes a little something extra to win at the end of the set. I thought our ability to manage the rally was good overall but we were too high-error in multiple phases of the game to get a win. We get another shot tomorrow back in Pritchard and it's an important one," said head coach
Kristin Belzung.
UP NEXT
The Seawolves return to the Pritchard Gymnasium tomorrow at 1 p.m. for the second of two matches against the Huskies. The match is set to broadcast on
FloVolleyball.
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