The Hofstra volleyball team beat the Northeastern University Huskies 3-1 in a down-to-the-wire finish in their Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) matchup on Sunday, Nov. 6.
A 34-32 finish in the fourth set demonstrated how focused the team was on winning the game. The Pride’s win extended their reign over the CAA with a perfect 14-0 record in conference play, the best in program history.
“Fun, right?” said Hofstra volleyball head coach Emily Mansur with a smile on her face. “I think this was a really good effort from everybody. We didn’t quit … Northeastern played hard, and they really came for us with a lot of attitude and passion, but we were able to really stay focused and, ugly or not, win that set and match.”
Hofstra’s Yagmur Cinel opened the match by landing the first point of the day with a kill. After that, Hofstra trembled into a 7-2 deficit early in the set with three kills coming from Huskies players Nailah Jenkins and Erica Staunton. The Pride crawled its way out of the hole and tied the game up at nine thanks to three kills from Beatriz Alves, Sarah Pierre and Izadora Stedile.
The set remained incredibly close throughout until Northeastern scored 3 unanswered points to break the stalemate for a 22-19 lead on some mistakes on Hofstra’s defensive side of the net. The Pride didn’t give up just yet and came within one of tying the game. However, with a 23-22 lead, the Huskies scored two points on a bad set by Chiara Cucco and a kill from Laura Seeger to win the first set 25-22.
With Hofstra down in the match, the Pride came out hot in the second set opening it with a 9-1 lead via kills by Stedile, Pierre and Zyare Abdul-Rahim combined with repeat attack errors on the Huskies’ side of the net. The Pride continued to dominate offensively when another kill by Abdul-Rahim tallied the score to 18-11. Hofstra almost ran away with the match on a kill courtesy of Clara Bal 22-16.
However, the Huskies did not go down quietly scoring four points on Hofstra errors, making for an excited game at how eager Northeastern made the game 22-20. Their dominance did not stop the Pride as two attack errors by Northeastern’s Seeger and Jenkins solidified a Hofstra set win 25-22.
Looking to leave Hempstead with a win, the Huskies controlled most of the third set at 12-9, lead off a kill by Defne Arliel. The Pride flipped the table with 10 unanswered points and took a 19-12 lead in what felt like the blink of an eye. Northeastern fought back coming within four from errors on Hofstra’s side of the ball. The Pride then put the game in full throttle, stomping over the huskies with three combined kills from Florencia Wolkowyski and Bal to win the third set 25-17.
The fourth set was a battle on the court as Hofstra started with a 9-4 lead by kills from six different players. The Huskies showed their ability to claw their way back into a match and tied the game at 15. With several lead changes late in the set, the match went over the 25-point game mark.
Each team continued to score as the match had the fans on the edge of their seat. Down 32-31, the Pride tied the game off a Wolkowyski kill 32-32. An Emily Flores kill then put the Pride up with the advantage over the Huskies 33-32. Then a fierce kill-off by Stedile sealed the set and the match win over the Huskies in dramatic fashion.
In this show-of-force win, Abdul-Rahim led the team in kills with 20, while Wolkowyski tied her season-best seven kills in the day’s match.
“We actually saw a couple of days ago that [Wolkowyski] was playing really well in practice and she was working really hard, doing some great stuff,” Mansur said. “When the opportunity came today, she was composed and took big chances. She played how she played and she did a great job.”
With the playoff seeding hanging in the balance, the Hofstra Pride gets ready to play the Towson University Tigers in the first of two games on Saturday, Nov. 12, at 1 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Neil Miller/Hofstra Athletics
