The Hofstra University volleyball team defeated the Elon University Phoenix 3-0 in their Costal Athletic Association (CAA) conference opener on Saturday, Sept. 16, at the David S. Mack Physical Education Center at Hofstra University. The Pride are now 11-1 on the season and 1-0 within CAA play.
Izadora Stedile filled the stat sheet with 22 kills and 10 digs.
“Super nice to see Iza [Stedile] coming back,” said Hofstra head coach Emily Mansur. “She was the leader of the game today before we even came onto the court.”
Beatriz Alves played a pivotal role in Stedile’s success, notching 47 assists.
“She was a beast today,” Alves said. “She was coming to me and saying, ‘Give me the ball, give me the ball,’ and I gave her the ball, and she did everything she did. So, it’s one hundred percent her merit.”
The first set had the most action between the two teams. It was a back-and-forth affair that had Elon up 22-17 before Hofstra called for a timeout. The Pride then made things interesting, reducing the deficit to 23-20 before Elon called a timeout. That timeout proved to be ineffective as Hofstra then tied things up at 23-23, prompting Elon to call another timeout. The Phoenix went up by one with a chance to win the set before Hofstra retaliated. Elon then went up by one another three times, with Hofstra tying it up each time. Then, Hofstra found themselves at set point seven times, with Elon responding every time. Eventually, the score was even at 33-33, before the Pride finally scored two straight thanks to a block error and ball handling error from Elon, allowing Hofstra to take the set 35-33.
“Bea [Alves] got to the serving line and had a nice run, putting pressure on them, and that changed everything,” Mansur said. “That was the first time we actually got someone to serve more than two times and that was the difference right there.”
“They were always coming back,” Alves said. “It’s just the ‘keep pushing’ mentality we have as our culture in general.”
The Pride used the momentum from that hard-fought first set during the rest of the match. They took the next two sets 25-20 and 25-21, respectively, and won the match 3-0.
“I think whoever won the first set would have had a big lead coming into the second,” Mansur said. “That was an emotional set going over by so many points, so winning that was very big for us.”
The Pride can enjoy this win for now, but they’ll have to do it once again against Elon on Sunday, Sept. 17.
“It’s a new day, and we got to be even better prepared, so we can do a better job,” Mansur said. “It is a good team, they came and worked really hard. We got to look how we can be better for tomorrow’s game.”
That game will be held on Sunday, Sept. 17, at 1 p.m. Fans can listen to the game on the Hofstra Alternative Web Channel or watch it on Flo Volleyball. Live stats will be available at gohofstra.com.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
