By Angelo Brussich (Sports Editor)
Hofstra volleyball head coach Kristina Hernandez walked back from halftime by herself, five minutes before her team came back to the court.
She was clearly frustrated with her team’s defensive showing in the first half of the Prides match against George Mason University (GMU) Sunday afternoon at the Hofstra Recreation Center. The Pride showed some fight coming out of the half, but it was not enough and it fell 3-1 to the Patriots.
Hofstra (14-10, 2-3 CAA) seemed to start out flat against its Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) opponent, with multiple lapses defensively and no answer for Patriots junior outside hitter Lana Zonjic.
“Our team needed to have a little bit more of a sense of urgency, I think that it was very lax in the first two sets,” said Hernandez. “I don’t think, defensively, we made any adjustments very quickly.”
A bright spot for the Pride was the play by sophomore outside hitter Emily Burke, who notched 12 kills for the second straight match.
The game opened up with a very closely contested set that saw 10 tie scores and four lead changes, the only set where there were any lead changes.
Hofstra began to let GMU (4-13, 2-2 CAA) mount a lead as the set was winding down, and Hernandez called a timeout. She could be heard telling the team to focus on and shore up the defensive. It appeared to work, as Hofstra tied the game up after that, but it was short lived and the Patriots won the set 25-22.
GMU’s blocking along the net caused problems for the Pride offense to find a rhythm as the Patriots nearly doubled the Prides block total 13-7.
“They’ve got strong blockers,” said Hernandez. “They did a really good job and we weren’t running the middles as much so it didn’t give us a lot of room on the pins to make them pull from the blocks.”
Set two was all GMU as the Patriots jumped on Hofstra early and would not look back. Hofstra had a few ties early but that was as close as the Pride would come and GMU took the set 25-19.
“We were in the right spots; we just weren’t making those plays,” said Hernandez. “They needed to put a little more effort into what they were doing.”
Hofstra seemed to be rejuvenated after and looking much sharper than earlier in the match. Taking the lead right away and never relinquishing it the Pride put together as strong showing to win the set 25-22. It looked like the pitfalls of the first two sets were behind them.
Hofstra was not able to capitalize on any momentum it gained as GMU held the lead the entire fourth set, not even allowing Hofstra to pull into a tie. The Patriots lead was at 10 points at its peak with a 20-10 lead, eventually pushing it to 24-13.
Hofstra would mount a slight comeback but playing so many points with GMU on match point was too much for the Pride, and the Patriots came away with a 25-17 victory.