By Angelo Brussich (Sports Editor)
It was a quick defeat for the Hofstra volleyball team, losing again to the Northeastern Huskies 3-0 in a rematch of Northeastern’s 3-1 victory back in September.
Hofstra head coach Kristina Hernandez felt that seeing the 16-3 and undefeated in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Huskies would help for the Pride to know what type of attack to expect.
“Northeastern is a really smart team,” said Hernandez. “I think we know what they’re going to throw at us, so it’s just us being able to make sure that we’re ready to go.”
It wasn’t to be for Hofstra, defeated again for its second straight game. Hofstra dropped its record to 14-11, 2-4 in CAA while Northeastern remained undefeated in CAA play pushing, its record to 6-0 with a 17-3 record overall.
“Play defense” was Coach Hernandez’s message to her team heading into the game, but that was not to be as the Huskies jumped on the Pride early in the game.
Set one was a strong performance by Northeastern who hit at a 0.444 clip and took control of the game early jumping out to a 13-4 lead.
The Pride tried to mount a comeback, but a 0.000 hitting percentage was just not enough to bring Hofstra back into the game, and the Huskies won the set 25-15.
The Pride attempted a quick rebound in the second. Hofstra took the lead early in the game and held it much throughout the set.
Sophomore outside hitter Kelsie Wills had a match-high 12 kills for the Pride, and in the second set had three big service aces to give Hofstra a 22-18 set lead. Senior setter Catalina Charry chipped in a match-high 18 assists and senior libero Kylee Maneja had a team best eight digs, but it was not enough for the Pride.
Lead by junior outside hitter Kelly Bacon’s serving, the Huskies were able to hold Hofstra at 22 and crawl all the way back and eventually pass the Pride to take the lead and set win at 25-22.
Riding the back of multiple runs early on and a crushing 9-2 run in the middle of the set, Hofstra found itself behind big early. After starting the game even with the Huskies, the Pride watched as an 11-7 deficit quickly became a 20-9 hole.
Hofstra was never truly able to get back into the game as the Huskies matched the Pride point-for-point later in the set. Hofstra cut the lead to nine, but a 23-14 deficit was to steep of a hill to climb and Northeastern was able to come away with a 25-15 set victory and the 3-0 victory.
Hofstra hit again at a 0.000 clip in the final set, concluding an off night for the Pride offensively as it had 21 errors and totaling 27 kills, while Northeastern had 47 kills and only 13 attack errors.
The road back to the winning track does not get any easier for Hofstra, as it travels to Towson University to take on the 19-3 and 6-0 CAA Tigers. The match is set for 7p.m. at the Towson Center.