The Hofstra University volleyball team lost to the University of Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens 3-2 on the road on Saturday, Oct. 21, in a Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) matchup. The Pride now sits at 16-6 with a 6-5 record against CAA opponents.
Senior Yagmur Cinel led the Pride with 17 kills, sophomore Clara Bal earned 13 kills and sophomore Izadora Stedile recorded 11. Still, their offensive highlights were not enough to defeat the Blue Hens.
Hofstra trailed behind Delaware for most of the first set, but Cinel’s 10 kills in the first set helped the Pride make a comeback. The Pride first held the lead at 24-23 after Delaware’s Lani Mason recorded an error on a Hofstra serve by junior Beatriz Alves. The Pride won the first set 28-26 on a kill by graduate student Sarah Pierre with an assist by Alves.
The Pride led in the second set after Bal’s kill tied the game at 3-3. Serves from Delaware’s Amelia Painter awarded the Blue Hens eight points in the set, including four consecutive errors made by the Pride. Despite their troubles with Painter’s serve, the Pride maintained their lead. The Blue Hens scored five consecutive points only for Hofstra to finish out the set 25-22.
The third set was the turning point of the match. The Pride trailed the entire time. Bal and Stedile both recorded four kills apiece, but it didn’t last for long. Despite half a dozen kills between both teams, most of the points of the remainder of the set were earned on errors. The Pride fell in the third set 25-21.
The woes experienced by Hofstra in the third set carried over to the next, again failing to find that advantage over Delaware. Bal earned five kills in the set, but just like in the previous set, her offense was not enough for the Pride to defeat the Blue Hens. The Pride’s first five points of the set all came from errors by the Blue Hens, with another four Hofstra points also resulting from Delaware errors. The Pride dropped the fourth set 25-20.
The two squads went to the final stanza for a dramatic fifth set, which ended in a 17-15 defeat for Hofstra.
The matchup between the Pride and Blue Hens marked the third time this season Hofstra lost in the final set and their second five-set CAA loss. The Pride earned 43 errors over the course of the match, Stedile leading with 13.
The Pride continues their season with another game at Delaware on Sunday, Oct. 22, at 1 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Evan Bernstein
