STONY BROOK, N.Y. - Playing in their first match in nearly two weeks, the Seawolves were unable to break through against Charleston on Friday as the Cougars remained undefeated in conference play after besting Stony Brook 3-1 (25-21, 25-18, 10-25, 25-18).
Mercedes Motton paced the team with nine kills today, while Zayda Fuertez and Ayanna Pierre Louis headed up the defense with 17 digs and six blocks, respectively.
How It Happened
SET 1 | Stony Brook kept pace with Charleston for much of the set, matching them point for point at times before briefly pulling ahead 9-8 after four Cougars errors and a kill from Lei Lasike. A 7-2 Charleston run would swing momentum back in their favor, only for the Seawolves to come right back with a 4-0 run to tie it at 15-15. Multiple Cougars errors would eventually give the lead back to Stony Brook at 21-20, but in the end Charleston would go on a 5-0 run to finish off the set.
SET 2 | Despite coming out of the gates with 5-1 lead to open the second, Stony Brook soon found itself down 10-5 as the Cougars went on another extended scoring run. Later, trailing 13-10, the Seawolves would get some life on back-to-back blocks from Pierre Louis and Ella Sanders and an ace from Rayanne Wheat to pull within five. The effort fell short, however, as Charleston held on to take the set.
SET 3 | After scoring her first kill of the day to cap off an early 3-0 run, Quinn Anderson would soon notch three kills in a row to hand the Seawolves a 9-3 to begin the third. Later, holding onto a 12-8 advantage, Motton sent it to the media timeout with three consecutive kills to extend the lead to 15-8. Out of the timeout, Stony Brook would continue their run with five more unanswered to take a massive 20-8 lead en route to a commanding 25-10 win.
SET 4 | Strong defense at the net from Osibodu and Pierre Louis helped build 12-10 Seawolves lead at the start of the fourth. Charleston, though, soon rallied back with a 5-0 run to take a 15-10 lead into the media timeout. Lasike would pick up a kill and two more blocks to cut the deficit down to two at 17-15, but that would be as close as it would get as the Cougars outlasted the Seawolves to finish off the match.
Notable Stats
- Sanders had eight kills today to bring her career total to 791.
- Pierre Louis is also approaching a career milestone as her six blocks bring her to 295.
- Osibodu is on the cusp of becoming the first Seawolf since 2014 to reach 100 total blocks in a season with 97 on the year.
Up Next
The Seawolves close out the series with Charleston tomorrow at noon. The match will be streamed live on FloCollege.
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