By By Olson Barthelemy

What’s the remedy for having your three game win streak broken by a conference opponent? Follow it up with another winning streak, including three wins versus conference challengers. It also helps to take a share of the conference lead in the process.

That is the blueprint the Pride volleyball team utilized after its 3-1 loss to the College of William & Mary at home on Sept. 24 (26-30, 28-30, 30-24, 25-30). The Pride then proceeded to go on another three-game win streak by beating Columbia at home in straight games, defeating the Blue Hens of Delaware on the road in straight games and winning in Maryland against the Towson Tigers, 3-1. The win against Towson gave the Pride a half game lead in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), and also gave the team added momentum as it headed home for a match against Northeastern University.

The Pride (10-6, 7-1 CAA) last faced the Huskies (7-8, 5-3), newcomers to the CAA, in 2000 when both teams were members of the America East Conference. Despite being new to the conference, the Huskies were ranked third in the CAA in the preseason coaches’ poll, receiving two first place votes. Motivated to extend its winning streak to four and win against a conference opponent, the Pride beat the Huskies in straight games (30-25, 32-30, 30-16).

The Huskies were hardly pushovers as they made the road to victory difficult for the Pride with hard fought losses in the first two games, managing 35 kills to the Pride’s 29. Northeastern took the Pride deep into the second game (past the customary 30-point win mark), which featured 14 lead changes, before losing, 32-30. The Pride, having managed to withstand the Huskies best effort, took the third game easily, 30-16, amounting 19 kills to the Huskies nine.

Northeastern finished the match with a poor hitting percentage of .146. In the Huskies favor, for at least the first two games, was the fact that the Pride was matching the Huskies lowly hitting percentage, with a bad showing themselves. This was unexpected, since the pride had averaged a percentage of .324, with a high of .402 against Columbia, over its last three games. Northeastern averaged a hitting percentage of .145 in the first two sets, while comparably, the Pride averaged a .171 percentage. The difference, which managed to go in the Pride’s favor, was that the Huskies, along with having more kills in the first two games, also had more errors (19 errors to the Pride’s 13). While Northeastern maintained its poor hitting percentage into the third game (hitting .156), the Pride settled down and posted an excellent .410 percentage in the decisive game.

For yet another match, senior outside hitter Tessa Sphar led the Pride in the offensive department. Sphar, who led the team in kills in two of the previous three matches, tallied a team-high 14 kills and an excellent .350 hitting percentage.

Sphar and sophomore middle blocker Amanda Beyersdorff (seven kills) were the only members of the Pride with percentages over .300. Also contributing offensively was outside hitter Talita Silva, who had 11 kills (she leads the team with 204). Beverly Rivera and Elizabeth Curley also chipped in with eight and five kills, respectively. Setter Shellane Ogoshi contributed with 32 of the teams’ 40 assists.

Helping the team defensively were Ogoshi (19 digs) and Sphar (16). Silva and Catherine Durakis also compiled double digit digs. Middle blocker Elizabeth Curley had four of the teams nine blocks.

Leading the way for the Huskies were Larissa Adomat (13 kills), Chelsea Carroll (22 assists, 10 digs), and Kira Batura (18 digs).

With the win, the Pride improved to 11-6 overall, and 8-1 in the CAA. Northeastern, with the loss, fell to 7-9 and 5-4 in the conference. The Pride’s 8-1 CAA record placed it in a tie with the Towson (20-3, 8-1 CAA) for first place in the CAA.

Beverly Rivera’s eight kills helped the Pride beat Northeastern . (Photo Courtesy of Athletic Dept.)