By By Alana Pelosi, Sports Editor

The Hofstra volleyball team continued to struggle in their lost to St. John’s University on Wednesday.  The Pride lost to their local rival in what was the Queens-Nassau cup after being up the first set and quickly dropping the next three.   Despite the rocky start, the team remains optimistic. “I think we just need to learn to fight a bit longer,” said head coach Kristina Hernandez, “I think that will be the final piece of the puzzle.”
While in the third set the team appeared to be miscommunicating, late in the fourth set the team to make a bit of comeback, at one point cutting St. John’s lead to only 18-14.  The late resurgence may be indicative to their playing style of late.  After starting the season a 0-6 record, the team has picked up two wins and improved to 2-9.  While that’s far from a winning record, it is improving one, slowly but surely.
“They’re a young group,” explained Hernandez, “we have five new starters and they’re just gelling together.”
This season it is a whole new team for the Pride and while a lot of last year’s 18-14 team graduated, for the most part the freshmen are making an early effort.  Libero Kylee Maneja tallied a team-high 18 digs and Maile Scarpino added another 13 digs.  “Maile is doing great. She had a great game for us and serves really aggressively,” praised Hernandez.
While they may not be able to replicate last year’s winning record, If the team continues to grow together at a quick pace there they should be able to pick up a few more wins.  The Pride hope to notch a win or two this weekend at the Seton Hall University Invitational where they will face Yale, Seton Hall, and New Jersey Institute of Technology.
 

Carolyn Jenkins hits the ball over the net during a Pride loss to St. Johns. (Stephen Cooney/ The Chronicle)

Anissa Whitney spikes the ball against St. Johns. (Stephen Cooney/ The Chronicle)

Scences from the volleyball game against St. Johns (Stephen Cooney/ The Chronicle)