TOWSON, Md. - The Stony Brook volleyball team punched its ticket to the CAA Championship Semifinals on Thursday after a massive 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 19-25, 25-22) upset over the host school No. 3 Towson. After being knocked out of the previous three CAA tournaments by the Tigers, this marks the first time the Seawolves have ever defeated them in the postseason.
No. 6 Stony Brook will now advance to Friday's Seminfinals match against No. 2 Campbell.
All-CAA First Team selection Kali Moore, playing in her final career CAA Championship, absolutely dominated the court tonight as she led the team with 25 kills to go along with 15 digs for a double-double. Quinn Anderson also added 13 kills to help the offense. On the defensive end, Madison Cigna chipped in for with 17 digs to go with seven blocks from Mopelola Ojo.
How It Happened
SET 1 | The Seawolves opened up an early one set to none lead, taking a tight first set 25-23. Stony Brook came out to a 3-0 advantage and later took the lead for good at 11-10 thanks to five total kills from Moore and Anderson. Moore would continue to lay it on with four more kills in the set to eventually make it 24-20. The Tigers did score three in a row to cut the lead to one, but an attack error cut their comeback short and handed the first set to Stony Brook.
SET 2 | Stony Brook continued to roll after a set-one win by earning a 25-23 victory in set number two. The Seawolves again got off to a fast start with four straight points as they led for nearly the entire set. Holding on to an 18-16 lead, Stony Brook soon fell behind as Towson scored five in a row to make it 21-18. Still trailing at 23-21, however, the team got hot and fired off four unanswered, capped off by three consecutive blovks from Ojo. The Seawolves ultimately racked up 20 kills over the course of the set, seven of which came from Moore and four each from Anderson and Ayanna Pierre Louis.
SET 3 | Stony Brook saw its chance for a 3-0 sweep end when Towson took the third set 25-19. The team fell behind 10-5 early on and was never quite able to get back into it as they trailed the entire set despite 13 more kills.
SET 4 | Stony Brook then responded to earn the match win with a 25-22 fourth-set victory. The Seawolves took the lead for good at 13-12 in a set that saw three early lead changes before the Seawolves took over for good. Moore pulled out all the stops on the attack, racking up six more kills to lead the way. Meanwhile, the defense blocked six Towson attacks to prevent them from getting into an offense rhythm. Lei Lasike, seeing her first action of the match, came in and quickly racked up three of those blocks. In the end, Stony Brook held on just long enough as one last Towson serve into the net sealed the victory.
Game Notes
» Moore's double-double was her 13th of the season. This was also the sixth time she topped 20 kills in a match.
» Pierre Louis was the third Seawolf to record double-digit kills tonight with 10.
» Zayda Fuertez joined Cigna and Moore as the third player in double figures in digs with 14.
» Zamora totaled 47 assists tonight, giving her seven matches this year with at least 40 assists.
Up Next
The Seawolves will return to face Campbell in the Semifinals round on Friday at 6 p.m. The match will be streamed live on FloCollege.
