HAMILTON, N.Y. - The Stony Brook volleyball team showed remarkable determination in a five-set victory over the Colgate Raiders on Sunday afternoon. With the result, head coach Kristin Belzung notched her 100th career win with the Stony Brook squad as they improved to 5-1 on the season.
"I am so thankful for the opportunity to coach at Stony Brook every day," head coach
Kristin Belzung stated in regard to her 100
th career win. "Reaching a milestone is a testament to the incredible coaches, support staff and student athletes that have been in this program over the years. I am grateful to have gotten to work and build this program with all of them!"
In the victory, the Seawolves were led by a double-double from
Kali Moore, who registered 21 kills and 13 digs on the day, while
Leoni Kunz added 17 kills for the offense.
Torri Henry dished out a season-high 51 assists to help out the Seawolves' attackers. On the defensive end, Henry chipped in with a team-high 24 digs to go with a season-best nine blocks from
Mercedes Motton.
HOW IT HAPPENED
SET 1 | The Seawolves opened up an early lead, winning the first set, 25-20. Stony Brook never trailed by more than five points and grabbed the advantage for good after a set-best three straight kills from Moore to take a 14-11 lead. The squad dominated with 14 total kills on 0.25 hitting through the first set.
SET 2 | The Raiders tied the match 1-1 with a 25-23 win in the second set. Colgate grabbed the advantage for good late in the stanza at 23-22. It was a close match that had eight ties before the Raiders took over.
SET 3 | Stony Brook then dropped their second set in a row, falling behind in the match, 2-1. The Seawolves lost 29-27 as the Seawolves and Raiders went back and forth trying to come up with the win. The team had their lowest hitting percentage of the match, collecting 13 kills along with nine errors.
SET 4 | Stony Brook broke their two-set losing streak and forced a fifth set with a 25-18 victory in the fourth. The Seawolves took the lead for good at 11-10. It was a dominate performance from the attack, as
Ayanna Pierre Louis, Moore, Kunz, and Motton pieced together 12 kills in the latter half of the set.
SET 5 | Stony Brook battled back from a 2-1 set deficit to win the next two sets, culminating in a fifth-set victory to lock down the 3-2 win. After a 17-15 "win" from Colgate, the Seawolves' coaching staff challenged the final play and ultimately had the call overturned to later emerge victorious, 19-17. The final deciding set was won with the help of a strong performance on the attacking side as the Seawolves notched a .600 attack percentage with 15 kills in the set win.
STATS AND NOTES
- Junior outside hitter Kali Moore registered her 23rd career double-double with a team-high 21 kills and 13 digs, while adding three blocks, two assists and two aces.
- Graduate student outside hitter Leoni Kunz helped the team with 17 kills, six digs, and five blocks.
- Graduate student setter Torri Henry paced the offense with a season-best 51 assists while tallying a match-high 24 digs and three aces. She has tallied 40 or more assists in all six matches so far this season.
- Redshirt freshman Mercedes Motton notched a career-high nine blocks in the victory.
- The Seawolves improved to 4-0 all-time against the Raiders.
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"I couldn't be more proud of the effort from our group today. We were locked in from the start and able to fight through tight situations. It's fun to compete against great competition and we got that chance all weekend," said head coach Belzung postgame.
NEXT UP
The Seawolves are back in action next weekend as they head to Kingston, R.I. to battle in the URI Tournament. Stony Brook is set to begin their slate of three games against Harvard on Friday at 1 p.m. before later taking on host Rhode Island at 7 p.m.
For an inside look at the Seawolves volleyball program, be sure to follow them on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
