By Angelo Brussich (Sports Editor)
They were underdogs coming into the CAA tournament, not expected to make it past the second round. But the Hofstra Pride volleyball team defeated the two time CAA defending champion Delaware Blue Hens 3-2 at the Towson Center Arena in the championship match.
The CAA crown is the first for the Pride since 2006, and gives Hofstra a spot in the upcoming NCAA tournament and is the Prides sixth straight match victory.
“I still don’t believe it quite yet,” said Hofstra head coach Kristina Hernandez. “I think our goal every year is to win a championship, I don’t know if anybody really expected us to do this so I’m really proud of my team for just sticking it out and really just continuing to believe in what we were doing every day.”
Hofstra (21-13) this year has become proficient in five set matches, and this championship match would be no different as the Pride won the crucial fourth set on the brink of elimination to set up the fifth and final game against Delaware (16-14).
The final set would turn out to be a battle as neither team was able to get more than a two point lead. Tied at 10-10, sophomore outside hitter Kelsie Wills would tally three staright kills for the Pride to give Hofstra a lead it would not relinquish.
Wills lead the Pride with 18 kills and was named CAA Championship Most Outstanding Player for the tournament.
“Kelsies done a great job all tournament,” said Hernandez. “They really put some pressure on her in the block and we just asked her to do more, she did a good job and was able to stay in her game after she got a little frustrated in the second and third set.”
At the beginning of the match the Blue Hens took an early lead and played a strong first set, pulling away in the middle part of the set en route to a 25-18 victory.
But the resilient Pride would answer right back with a strong set of its own, never trailing in the set and coming away with a 25-16 victory.
Hofstra senior setter Catalina Charry racked up 10 kills, 29 assists and 14 digs for a triple double and was awarded all CAA-Championship Team honors along with Wills and senior libero Kylee Maneja.
“Cat’s definitely our emotional leader, she leads us and she’s got a lot of energy,” said Hernandez. “She made some great digs there at the end and her just being able to put balls up for us is really important but she also took some big swings for us that really kept us in the match during that first set.”
The third set started off close, but Delaware rode a dominant 13-3 run to run its lead to 16-6 and ended the set in dominant fashion taking down the Pride 25-12.
With its back against the wall the Pride scratched out a victory in a back and forth fourth set through the middle portion of the game. After the Blue Hens took the lead 21-19, Hofstra regained the momentum and finished the set on a 6-2 run winning the game to set up the deciding fifth set.
Hofstra is now 6-3 in five set matches on the year.
“It speaks true to their character and what they’ve been trying to work on all year and just making sure that they stay resilient and bounce back and really deal with pressure,” said Hernandez. “That’s been something that we’ve really tried to work on this year…and they’ve done a great job of responding and really picking it up.”
This is Hofstra’s 16th conference championship in program history, but only its second CAA title and it will find out who it gets to face in the NCAA tournament after the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Committee conducts selections on November 24th-25th.
“It’s a first time for me in my career and I’m excited to see who we get to play,” said Hernandez. “And we get to keep playing, and that’s always a great thing.”
