The Hofstra University volleyball team defeated the College of William & Mary Tribe 3-0 in a Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) match on Sunday, Oct. 16, at the David S. Mack Physical Education Center. The Pride improved to 16-15 on the season and 5-4 in CAA play.
Graduate student Sarah Pierre led the team with six blocks.
“I love it,” said Hofstra head coach Emily Mansur. “Sarah’s such a good human, and it’s really cool for us to see her playing this way especially because every match now is her last match against whoever it is. So it’s really exciting for her.”
The Pride won the first set 25-17. The only time they trailed was when William & Mary led 3-2 before Hofstra scored four straight points. The Pride never looked back after that.
The second set got a little bit more interesting. The Pride jumped out to a 10-4 start, causing William & Mary to call timeout. After the Tribe cut the deficit to 16-12, Hofstra called a timeout of their own. William & Mary seemed unaffected by this as they scored three straight points to cut it to 16-15. The score was 18-17 before the Pride scored three straight points to give themselves some breathing room. They ultimately took the set 25-10.
The Pride won the third set to sweep the match. After a hot start that saw them up by as many as nine, Hofstra called timeout with the score 18-14. They settled down after that and won 25-21.
Hofstra finished the match with nine service aces.
“I think they are just finding more ways to trust themselves,” Mansur said. “It’s such an individual part of the game when you’re serving, and I think it’s just them having the courage go and do whatever they do well in practice.”
Izadora Stedile led the team with four aces, finishing with 10 kills.
“I think Iza [Stedile] just needs to trust herself,” Mansur said. “She is a great player; we knew that from the beginning. So it’s her just having the courage to do what she does well.”
Hofstra entered the weekend two games behind William & Mary in CAA play. After the sweep, they are now tied.
“It’s great for us,” Mansur said. “I think this has been a tough week inside Hofstra volleyball for different reasons, and the team just came together, and they wanted to play for something bigger than just us.”
Hofstra will get another crack at chasing down a division rival next weekend when they take on the University of Delaware, who stands a game ahead of Hofstra in the standings.
“It’s definitely a big week ahead,” Mansur said. “We are excited, and I think coming to Delaware is just building from the momentum right now. This is our first 2-0 since the first weekend of the season. So it’s really just building from here, getting closer to the CAA and finding our way together.”
The Pride’s next match will be on Saturday, Oct. 21, at 1 p.m. and can be watched live on Flo Volleyball.
Photos courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Alexis Friedman
