The Hofstra women’s volleyball team suffered its second straight loss on Sunday, falling 3-1 to the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens.
The loss drops the Pride to 19-9 on the season, while going 9-6 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play.
With the 3-0 loss to Towson just two days before, the Pride has now surrendered back to back tough losses, since they lost 3-0 against Charleston and UNCW at the beginning of conference play.
For Delaware, the win extends their winning streak to five, all coming against CAA opponents.
The win against the Pride locks up a spot in the CAA conference tournament for the Fightin’ Blue Hens.
In a match where Hofstra was expected to win, they failed to gain any momentum and turn things around. In the first set, both teams battled back and forth, but a late run by Delaware allowed them to pull away and go up 1-0 early.
The charge was led by Fightin’ Blue Hens freshman Maria Bellinger, who tallied eight kills in the first set.
Bellinger has been a revelation for Delaware, as she leads the team with 283 kills. In this contest, she racked up a team high of 18 kills.
Autumn Jenkins pitched in with four kills, most of them coming late in the set. In addition, she finished with a team high of four aces.
In the second set, the Pride bounced back, going up 17-7 early on Delaware.
Everyone got in on the action as more than six players had multiple kills. A strong start to the set ended on a sour note as the Pride let Delaware come back and cut the lead 22-19. Errors by Erin Layne and Lauren Talley gave Hofstra the last few points to tie the set 1-1.
Even after a bounce back set, the Pride continued to struggle to find their comfort zone. Delaware came out firing in the third set, going up 16-8 early. Hofstra attempted to come back but it seemed as if nothing was working.
In the final set, Hofstra stayed with the Fightin’ Blue Hens, battling until it became 15-15. From then on, it was all Delaware.
The Blue Hens cruised to a 25-16 victory, giving them a 3-1 win.
Up next on the schedule for Hofstra is a match against the Elon Phoenix on Nov. 11. This will be the last regular season tune up for the Pride before the CAA tournament.
