The Hofstra University volleyball team opened their weekend series against Hampton University with a lopsided three-set sweep over the Pirates on Thursday, Oct. 9, and improved their win streak to three matches.
After the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) matchup, the Pride holds the second spot in CAA standings with a 12-2 overall record and a 5-2 record against CAA opponents. The Pirates sit at the bottom of the CAA, still winless in conference play with an 0-7 CAA record and a 1-17 overall record.
Clara Bal led the attack for the Pride with 11 kills and two aces and put up seven digs, while Constanza Perez Sain also had a double-digit kill count with 10 kills. From the back row, Nina Jioshvili-Ravva led the way with 28 assists, 20 more than the next-highest assist count from either team, while Nil Kayaalp recorded 20 digs for the third time this season.
Perez Sain started the scoring for the Pride with a kill, and Beatriz Braga recorded her first of three aces to start the match. After tying the score 2-2, the Pride went on a 7-0 run, that was led by two kills apiece from Bal and Perez Sain. Later in the set, Hofstra embraced a 5-0 run where four of the Pride’s points came from Hampton errors.
For the Pirates, 12 of their 18 first-set points came from Hofstra errors. Katerina Pappa, Jaya Rimm and Racquel Frazier each recorded an ace for Hampton in the first set, which finished in a 25-18 victory for the Pride.
After Georgia Ahlert and Pappa recorded an attack error for the opponent’s first points of the second set, Hampton’s offense appeared strong. In a 6-0 run, the Pirates earned three kills, and Pappa hit her second of four aces. Hofstra slowly came back but could not regain the lead until their own 6-0 run that saw Braga earn two more kills and a trio of errors from the Pirates. Braga’s final kill of the set secured a 25-16 second-set victory.
The third set was a breeze for the Pride, who took down the Pirates 25-8. Three of Hampton’s points in the final set came from Hofstra errors, while the Pride went on scoring streaks of up to eight consecutive points. The Pride seemed to struggle to seal the victory at 24 points, when Bal and Braga recorded errors and Rimm recorded a kill, but a kill by Braga set up by Jioshvili-Ravva gave the Pride the win.
Hofstra concluded their series against Hampton on Friday, Oct. 10. First serve was set for 1 p.m.
