By Angelo Brussich, Staff Writer
The Northeastern Huskies defeated the Hofstra University Pride volleyball team in straight sets over the weekend at Solomon Court in Boston, MA.
This was a stark difference from the last time these two teams faced off when Hofstra mounted a strong comeback at home rallying back from a 2-0 set deficit to win 3-2.
Since that victory, Hofstra has been slowly dropping in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) to a 3-5 and dropping its overall record below .500 at 12-13.
Northeastern continued its winning ways as they increased its mark to 6-2 in CAA play and 16-4 overall.
The Charry sisters, senior middle blocker Erika and junior setter Catalina, led the way for the Pride with Erika being the only Hofstra player to record double figure kills with 10.
Catalina contributed 23 assists and 11 digs. Unfortunately for Hofstra and head coach Kristina Hernandez the Pride’s passing was not as sharp as it is accustomed to being.
“I don’t think that we were consistent with very much, we weren’t passing very well which definitely made it difficult for us to do anything,” said Hernandez. “We wanted to counter attack…but could not do that since we weren’t passing very well.”
The first set was a very back and forth affair as Hofstra jumped out to an early lead only to see Northeastern close the gap and come away with a 25-23 game victory. Hofstra doubled up the Northeastern early in the set, grabbing a 12-6 lead, but the Pride could not continue its early success and the Huskies went on a 10-2 run, taking the lead for good at 16-15. Hofstra tied the game at 23, but Northeastern scored the next two points to take the set.
Game two was another close match in the beginning, until Northeastern went on a dominant run turning a three point 16-13 lead to a 25-16 set win.
Hofstra hit at a meek .091 hitting percentage in both the first and second set, and only hit .088 in the entire match.
The lone bright spot on the offensive end for Hofstra was Erika Charry.
“In the first set she [Erika] was not very involved so we really put some pressure on her to get more into the match,” said Hernandez. “In the second and third set she did that.”
Erika had six of her team leading 10 kills in the second set alone.
As for the rest of the team, Hernandez felt that “we needed some more offense from at least one or two other players in order for us to pull that [the match] out.”
Set three was the closest of the match as there were eight ties throughout the game with the score knotted at 21 late in the set, but Hofstra was shut out the last four points as the Huskies won the game and match with a 25-21 victory.
Hofstra again took an early advantage jumping out to an 8-5 lead, but that did not last long as Northeastern regained the advantage in the set at 11-10 and never relinquished that lead.
Hofstra finds itself a half game behind Virginia Commonwealth University for the sixth and final spot to play in the CAA conference championship now with its most recent loss. Hofstra plays VCU and William and Mary this weekend at home Friday night at 5pm in a set of pivotal match-ups that could decide the final standings.
“At this point right now every single match is important,” said Hernandez. “We don’t want to give anything away and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
