The Hofstra University volleyball team won its 15th match of the 2023 season with a clean sweep against the College of William & Mary Tribe on Saturday, Oct. 14. Between the three sets, the scores were 25-22, 25-17 and 25-23. With this sweep, the Pride is 15-5 overall with a Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) record of 5-4. The Tribe is 11-8 in 2023 with a record of 6-3 in CAA play.
“[It was] definitely a nice win,” said Hofstra head coach Emily Mansur. “William & Mary is a very solid team, so it’s nice for us to be able to play a clean game and get a 3-0 against a really good William & Mary team.”
Clara Bal led the way for the Pride with 12 kills.
The first set began with a 1-1 tie before Hofstra took a 4-point lead thanks to a service error, a kill by Beatriz Alves and two service aces from Chiara Cucco. The Pride kept building their lead, but William & Mary clawed their way back, tying the set at 11. The two squads kept trading the lead until Hofstra gained momentum with two kills each by Bal and Izadora Stedile for a 25-22 score.
The second set was a different story. The Tribe took a 9-5 lead before Mansur called a Hofstra timeout. After talking with her team, Mansur’s side returned to within two before a William & Mary kill made it 10-7. A service error from the Tribe’s Sabrina Malcolm and an attack error by Katherine Arnason made it a 1-point difference for Hofstra, but William & Mary was not willing to give up their lead. After Stedile’s attack error made the score 20-17, Hofstra scored five unanswered points thanks to a service error, two bad sets from the Tribe and two kills by Sarah Pierre.
The final set did not start out kindly for the Pride. Attack errors by Cinel and Bal, a bad set by Alves and a kill for Olivia Esposito made it 6-2 for the Tribe. Hofstra then scored five unanswered points on kills by Bal and Stedile, an attack error by Arnason and an ace from Cinel to make it 7-6. Hofstra gained the lead back before William & Mary’s counterpunch. Down 18-14, the Pride came back to within one thanks to multiple attack errors. With a 23-23 tie, Beatriz Braga provided a big kill on an assist from Alves to give Hofstra match point, converted on a service ace from Stedile.
“I think this was a big team effort,” Mansur said. “I think everybody did what they were supposed to and that’s how we know to be very good.”
Hofstra had six service aces in this match, with two each coming from Cinel and Cucco. Stedile led the team with 11 digs, and Alves once again led the team in assists, this time with 33.
“We’ve got [William & Mary] tomorrow, so we have to do our job tomorrow; we have to have a great match tomorrow,” Mansur said. “I think every week we grow; every week we learn a little bit about us in order to get to the next opponent. From now until the end, every match in the CAA is so important. It’s really us just building us.”
The Pride returns to action on Sunday, Oct. 15, against William & Mary. The first serve is 1 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Evan Bernstein
