The Hofstra women’s volleyball team suffered its first conference loss Friday against the College of Charleston, losing to the Cougars 3-1.
The Pride had been leading in points, kills, aces, blocks, assists and digs, but they still could not overcome the numerous mental errors. Hofstra committed a season-high 35 errors, compared to the Cougars who only had 20.
The Pride’s record for most errors before this game was 33.
The first set seemed competitive, but the Cougars were able to quickly gain four points climbing up to a three point lead of 20-17. From there, Charleston cruised through the first set, finishing it off 25-20.
Three out of the final four points scored in the set were all errors committed by Hofstra, with two of them coming from Veronika Kostova.
Things did not get better for the Pride in the second set as the Cougars jumped to a quick 7-1 lead. Five of those seven points were once again errors by Hofstra.
A little later on in the set, the Pride went on a short 6-1 run fueled by two kills from Laura Masciullo that cut the gap to 11-8. At that point it seemed like Hofstra might be back in the game. Yet, the Cougars pulled through winning the second set 25-14 and going up 2-0 on the Pride.
Trying to swing the momentum back, the Pride jumped to a quick 6-0 lead in the third set. Kostova looked much more focused as she smashed two kills to help feed the run.
The Cougars got back in the set, but the Pride battled through and took the set 25-20.
In the fourth and final set it was a downright dogfight to the finish. Both teams made small runs to position themselves to win, but it was the Cougars who came out on top.
Charleston’s Devon Rachel had the two biggest plays of the game, assisting in the game-tying and go-ahead kills to put the Cougars in the lead for good. She registered six blocks in the game, as well as 16 digs. The Cougars scored on the next point ending the game and giving them a 3-1 win.
Laura Masciullo wound up with the most kills (20) for the Pride while Hannah Klemm led the team in both aces (6) and assists (35).
The Pride will look to bounce back in conference play, taking on UNCW this Sunday.
