By Tyler McCord, Staff Writer
Tuesday night, in the Physical Fitness Center, Hofstra volleyball sought to generate a new winning streak after it lost two games to Colonial Athletic Association opponents. The 9-19 Pride hosted non-conference opponent Siena College who stood at 5-16.
Hofstra started the first set in a 0-3 hole, but quickly dug its way out with help from the attack errors committed by Siena. Multiple kills from graduate student outside hitter Marina Markovic and redshirt freshman Nikki Kinnier propelled Hofstra to an eight point lead, 21-13. Siena made a late push to bring the set close, but their effort was put to a halt by a Markovic kill. Following the kill, Markovic had a service ace to end the set and give the Pride a 25-20 win.
Hofstra played a very impressive second set, holding Siena to a negative .042 hitting percentage while Hofstra hit .583. The set unfolded with Hofstra scoring ten straight points and leading Siena by a score of 15-4 at one point. The dominance continued for the Pride with kills from freshmen Ayesha Hein and Shelby Young. Hofstra would end up routing Siena by a score of 25-13. Hofstra had a match-high fifteen kills in the second with six coming from Markovic and four from sophomore middle blocker Carolyn Jenkins.
Between the first and second sets Hofstra only committed four errors, while Siena had thirteen. The third set would take a completely different path.
“After the second set we got a little comfortable” said Hofstra head coach Kristina Hernandez. “This is something that we’re trying to get them to be better at. That is them just being a little young.”
Siena would not be swept, going on an 8-3 scoring run to finish the third set with a score of 25-17 and bring the match to 2-1 in favor of Hofstra.
Hofstra committed a match-high nine errors in the set. “We definitely got sloppy,” said Hernandez. “I told them that we needed to pick it up and stop being so sloppy and play with higher standards instead of playing at their level.”
An early kill from Kinnier in the fourth set would help the Pride gain some of its momentum back. After Siena would tie the set up at fifteen for the fifth tie-score of the set, a timely kill delivered by Jenkins would prove to be the difference.
“We definitely needed a comfortable lead so we could finish” explained Hernandez. Siena had their seventh and final error to end the set and the match, 25-20.
The win improved Hofstra’s record to 10-19 with only five more regular season matches remaining. Hofstra’s next match is against CAA opponent William & Mary on Friday, Oct. 29 at 5:00 p.m. in the Physical Education Building.
Graduate student outside hitter Marina Markovic receives a serve against the University of Delaware. (Sean M. Gates/The Chronicle)
