QUEENS, NY --The Stony Brook volleyball team opened the St. John's Tournament with back-to-back defeats after falling to Loyola Maryland and St. John's.
In the first matchup of the day against Loyola, the Seawolves came up short in a back-and-forth opening set, losing 25-23 in a game that featured four lead changes and was tied 10 times. Neither team led by more than four points in the match. After Abby Stanwood recorded her sixth kill of the set to take the 22-21 lead, the Greyhounds tallied four of the next five points to take the first set.
Stony Brook answered right back in the second set with a thrilling 27-25 victory, evening the match at one set apiece. The Seawolves grabbed control of the set lead early on at 6-5 following a kill by Abby Campbell and held the lead the rest of the way. Stony Brook led by as many as four points at 15-11 after a block by Kali Moore and Campbell before closing out the set with the two-point victory.
The squad battled tough in the beginning of the third set by forcing seven ties before the Greyhounds took the lead at 10-9 and ultimately the set, 25-19. In the fourth set, Loyola took advantage of an early 8-2 run to take the final set 25-16 and the match in four sets, respectively.
Stanwood finished with 12 kills in the match to lead the Seawolves offense. Defensively, the squad had four players reach double figures in digs, highlighted by Julia Patsos' 19, 12 from Madison Cigna, and 12 more from Lauren Schmitz. Moore also contributed five blocks in the defeat.
The Seawolves fell behind early in the first set against St. John's, dropping the first set 25-18. In the set that was knotted up four times and the Seawolves gaining the lead at 7-4 following a kill by Katie Hickey, the team from Queens stormed back with a 8-0 run that allowed themselves to take the lead and ultimately the opening set.
In the second set that Stony Brook found themselves down by as many as six points at 10-4, the squad fought back and took the lead at 18-17 after Moore tallied her second ace of the set. Stanwood gave the Seawolves the advantage at 21-20 with a kill, but St. John's scored five of the next seven points to take the 25-23 second set victory.
The Red Stormed used an early 10-2 run to take control of the third set and ultimately secure the match with a 25-13 victory in the final set.
Moore finished with eight kills to lead the Seawolves attack and got 14 digs from Julia Patsos to pace the squad defensively.
MATCH 1: STONY BROOK – 1, LOYOLA MARYLAND – 3 (23-25, 27-25, 19-25, 16-25)
- Stony Brook had four players in double figures in digs (Henry, Patsos, Schmitz, and Cigna).
- Stanwood had a team-high 12 kills for Stony Brook. She now has 10 or more kills in two of her last three matches.
- Stony Brook got a team-high 19 digs from Patsos. Patsos leads the team with 124 digs this season and has 10 or more digs in seven of nine matches this season.
- Stony Brook attackers were helped by a team-high 28 assists from Torri Henry.
- The Seawolves are now 2-1 all-time against Loyola.
MATCH 2: STONY BROOK 0 – , ST. JOHN'S – 3 (18-25, 23-25, 13-25)
- Cigna had a team-high two aces in the loss.
- Moore had a team-high eight kills for Stony Brook.
- Stony Brook got a match-high 14 digs from Patsos.
- Stony Brook attackers were helped by a team-high 29 assists from Henry. Henry leads the team with 318 assists this season and has 20 or more assists in every match this season.
- The Seawolves have now lost six consecutive matches to the Red Storm.
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"We were not firing on all cylinders today in either match. In order to be a great team we have to figure out how to win points even when that's the case. Ultimately we couldn't produce enough points against Loyola Maryland's defense and we gave St John's offense too much space to score into. We have a short turnaround and one more opportunity before CAA play begins," said head coach
Kristin Belzung.
NEXT UP
Stony Brook is back in action tomorrow morning to finish off the St. John's Tournament with a battle against Siena at 11:00 a.m. This will be the first meeting since 2006 between these programs and the Seawolves are 2-3 all-time against the Saints.
For an inside look at the Seawolves women's volleyball program, be sure to follow them on Facebook,
Twitter, and
Instagram.
