The Hofstra University volleyball team finished their series sweep over Hampton University on Saturday, Oct. 10, with a 3-0 win. The Pride have been on a heater, winning their last 12 sets and taking possession of the second-place position in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) with a conference record of 6-2, winning their last four matches after being swept by College of Charleston. The Pirates have still yet to win a conference matchup and hold the last-place position in the CAA with a 0-8 conference record.
Beatriz Braga, Constanza Perez Sain and Clara Bal all notched double-digit kills for the Pride. Braga led the team with 12 kills and Bal converted 10 of her 14 attack attempts.
Hofstra’s offense put up lopsided attack numbers against the Pirates, with a hit percentage of 0.487 to Hampton’s 0.079. The Pride limited their errors, recording just six attack errors on the day. Nina Jioshivili-Ravva played a large role in the attack, dishing out 35 assists.
Hofstra was dominant on all sides of the ball. They tallied 43 kills, 10 service aces and 10 blocks. Lilia Duczek led the blocking game with five blocks. Perez Sain and Jioshvili-Ravva dished out three blocks apiece. Nil Kayaalp was a key contributor in the back line and led the Pride with five aces and nine digs.
The Pride’s overwhelming offense struck in the middle of the first set. Hofstra turned a slim 9-8 lead into a 21-8 advantage thanks to a 12-0 run. During the run, Bal put up three kills, and Kayaalp tallied two service aces. The run ended in a service error by Kayaalp but the Pride’s offense was revived the next play, on a Perez Sain kill. The Pride built a huge 24-9 lead, eventually surrendering two points via errors before Bal closed out the set with a kill to seal the Hofstra victory. Hofstra limited the Pirates’ offense to just four kills in the first set.
Bal was on point, notching five kills in the set after seeing limited playing time during the series against Elon University.
The Pride sputtered a bit in the second set, conceding the first two points to Hampton, but evened things back up on a kill from Braga and an attack error from the Pirates. Hofstra allowed 12 kills in the second set and put just 11 on the board. Yet the mistakes proved to be too much for the Pirates, as they committed eight attack errors to Hofstra’s one. The Pride won the set by a score of 25-15.
Hofstra continued to roll over the Pirates in the third set, with a 25-13 score. The Pride went on a 6-0 run, headlined by two Hampton errors. Hofstra used the momentum to close out the series sweep. They ended the match on a 3-0 scoring run, finished by a Braga service ace.
The Pride look to add onto their four-match win streak in the Battle of Long Island against Stony Brook University on Friday, Oct. 17. Match time is set for 6 p.m.
