The Hofstra University women’s volleyball team dropped to 18-10 overall after a 3-2 loss to the Stony Brook Seawolves at home on Saturday, Nov. 11. The Pride now stands at 8-9 in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) and must win Sunday’s rematch if they want to make the CAA tournament.

“We have a great group of young women here, but we haven’t found consistency,” said Hofstra head coach Emily Mansur.

Freshman Beatriz Braga played both sides of the ball as she shattered her digs record by saving 18 in total and recording eight kills. Captain Beatriz Alves had 13 digs on top of 43 assists, and Clara Bal tied her career-high kills record with 15.

The Pride bounced back from a 25-22 first set loss by dominating early in the second set. They rode a 5-0 start all the way to a 25-16 set two victory.

The game was close, and Hofstra looked like it could have walked away with set three, but the Pride ultimately could not contain the Seawolves’ Abby Campbell. She recorded 10 blocks that day and played a crucial part in the Seawolves third-set win.

The Pride rallied late in the fourth set, where, through 13 tie scores and five lead changes, they squeezed out a 25-21 victory courtesy of three consecutive kills from Bal.

This sent the match into the fifth set, but Hofstra is 1-5 in five-set matches. The Pride did not shake their old habits and dropped the final set 15-12, but not before some entertaining back-and-forth offensive displays by Clara Bal and Stony Brooks’ Kali Moore. Moore matched Bal’s 15-kill day, additionally hitting the Pride with 3 service aces, 5 blocks and 6 digs.

After this match, the Pride hold a 13-2 record all-time against Stony Brook and look to get revenge on Sunday, Nov. 12, at 1 p.m., in the David S. Mack Physical Education Center for their last regular season game.

In the event that the Pride is able to come away with a win on Sunday, they also need Towson University to defeat Northeastern University to qualify for the CAA tournament. After Towson’s 3-0 victory on Saturday, it is completely within reach that the Pride can make the tournament.

With only two spots left in the tournament, five teams are fighting tooth and nail. The College of Charleston sits at 9-7 and looks to have the easiest path to punch their ticket. Northeastern needs to defeat the one-seeded Towson or have Hofstra lose Sunday’s match. The College of William & Mary and UNC-Wilmington each need every other CAA team to lose while they win their matches to qualify.

The CAA tournament quarterfinals will start Thursday, Nov. 16, in Towson, Maryland, and will be hosted by the Tigers for the remainder of the season.

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics