After a tough loss to 17th-ranked Penn State, the Hofstra volleyball team swept Siena College 3-0, to take the final match of the Syracuse tournament on Saturday.
The first two sets were competitive, as the Pride edged Siena 25-22 and 25-20. However, Hofstra took complete control of the match in the third set, defeating the Saints 25-12.
Just as they did in the first match of the Syracuse tournament against the Orange, Hofstra’s defense was one of the main anchors, holding Sienna to a .091 hitting percentage in all three sets.
The defense was even better when it counted the most, stifling them to a .000 hitting percentage in the final set. Additionally, they outscored Siena 49-30 in the kills department, while almost putting up identical numbers in the assist category, outscoring the Saints 48-29.
Veronika Kostova, the Pride’s leader in kills on the season, led them in the match with 11. Furthermore, sophomore Luisa Domingues recorded 19 digs, while Hannah Klemm continued to do an efficient job of distributing the ball. She had 24 assists in the match.
However, Klemm also had help, as Luisa Sydlik tallied 19 assists to help lead the Pride to victory.
As for Siena, Sonja Vasovic had 11 kills, while Haley Howell led them with 24 assists. Unlike the game against Syracuse, Hofstra was a little bit better about not hurting themselves, as they only had 17 errors in this match.
Against 17th-ranked Penn State, the Pride had 33 service errors, which will not get the job done, especially against teams of that caliber.
Hofstra continues to do well against teams from the New York area, as they are now 4-0 against teams from the state of New York. The Pride has now won 77 percent of its games all time against teams from this area.
The win improved Hofstra to 7-3 on the season, while Siena falls to 1-8. The Pride will look to build off of Sunday’s dominant win, as they will host Seton Hall at the David S. Mack Fitness Center on Tuesday at 8 p.m.