STONY BROOK, N.Y. – The Stony Brook University volleyball team concluded play against Charleston with a weekend split, defeating the Cougars in a five-set thriller on Saturday afternoon at home in Pritchard Gymnasium.
In the third set,
Torri Henry became the third student-athlete in program history to record 4,000 assists for their career. She is behind leader Sarah Boeckel with 4,949, followed by Julie Zub tallying 4,926.
The Seawolves were led by a double-double from
Leoni Kunz, who registered 14 kills and 17 digs on the day.
Kali Moore also added 26 kills to help the attack. On the defensive end,
Julia Patsos chipped in for with 22 digs to go with six blocks from
Mercedes Motton.
HOW IT HAPPENED
SET 1 | The Seawolves grabbed control of the first set early and held the lead the rest of the way to win, 25-17. Stony Brook had a match-high .394 hitting with 16 kills through the opening frame, led by Moore with nine. A solid defensive performance from the front row blocked four Charleston attacks to help secure a first set victory.
SET 2 | Up 1-0, Stony Brook put themselves on the cusp of a sweep with a 28-26 victory in second set. The Seawolves came out on top of a tight second set, winning in a stanza that was tied six times and had four lead changes. The Seawolves racked up 19 kills over the course of the set, hitting .224.
SET 3 | Stony Brook couldn't finish off the sweep, losing the third set in a back-and-forth battle. Neither the Seawolves or Cougars had a lead of more than two points in a set that featured four lead changes and nine ties.
SET 4 | Stony Brook then dropped their second straight set 25-22 to bring the match level. The Cougars had their best performance of the day hitting .354 with 19 kills. The Seawolves had 15 kills of their own with four from
Quinn Anderson who tied her career-high 15 on the day.
SET 5 | The Seawolves scored first and never trailed in the deciding set to secure the victory. Stony Brook opened up as much as a six-point lead at 11-5 before finishing off the match. Stony Brook also supplemented their offense with three aces in the final set, led by
Madison Cigna.
STATS AND NOTES
- Leoni Kunz registered her 21st career double-double with 14 kills and 17 digs. She added three blocks, one assist and one ace in the Seawolves victory.
- Stony Brook had three players in double figures in kills (Moore, Kunz, and Anderson).
- The Seawolves had four players in double figures in digs (Patsos, Kunz, Cigna, and Henry).
- Kali Moore tallied a team-high 26 kills, adding eight digs, one assist and one block.
- Julia Patsos recorded a match-high 22 digs for the Seawolves.
- Stony Brook attackers were helped by a team-high 52 assists from Torri Henry.
- Madison Cigna had a match-high two aces in the win.
- The Seawolves improve to 3-3 (.500) in CAA play and 10-5 overall on the season.
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"Every CAA match is going to be a battle, and our team showed incredible toughness today. We were disciplined from the start and mentally strong enough to make adjustments as needed and not get too high or low emotionally. Proud of our team for gutting this one out," noted head coach Kristin Belzung.
NEXT UP
The Seawolves close out their nonconference schedule on Tuesday, October 8 as they take on FDU at 5 p.m. Coverage is available on FloVolleyball. Stony Brook will look to keep their success going as they earned a straight set sweep over the Knights last season.
For an inside look at the Seawolves volleyball program, be sure to follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
