The Hofstra volleyball team swept away the UNC-Wilmington (UNCW) Seahawks 3-0 on Sunday, Oct. 16, rallying their winning streak to 10.
The Pride’s Yagmur Cinel led the team with 12 kills, and Izadora Stedile was behind her with 11 kills. Beatriz Alves had repeat performance with 31 assists on the day.
The Pride came into Sunday’s game on a nine-game winning streak after beating UNCW the day before. The Seahawks, on the other hand, have been struggling to get their footing this season.
At the start of the first set, the Pride came out to a hot start on the Seahawks with five unanswered points with two kills from Zyare Abdul-Rahim. Hofstra continued to pounce on UNCW and pushed further with a kill from Sarah Pierre to create a 14-8 lead.
The Seahawks compressed the lead to 16-13 from a few attacks and ball handling errors. Nonetheless, Hofstra ran away with the rest of the set. leaving UNCW with just 16 points as Alves secured the set win with a kill of her own.
The second set started with a different tone when UNCW took a quick 8-1 lead, mostly due to errors from the Pride’s side of the net. The Pride corrected their course with kills by Yagmur Cinel and Izadora Stedile but still trailed 10-5.
The Seahawks remained in the driver’s seat for most of the set with their narrow 19-16 lead. Closing out the set, however, proved to be an issue for the Seahawks. After a kill from UNCW’s Hannah Forbes, the Pride scored five unanswered points for a comeback 21-19 lead late in the second set courtesy of Stedile.
The Pride took the wheel and secured the second set win with a UNCW attack error by Katie Lanz for a score of 25-22.
Hofstra started off the third set strong by taking a 6-2 lead with two more kills from Stedile. The Seahawks put a stop to that as quickly as they could, landing seven unanswered points for an 11-7 lead.
The Seahawks continued to dominate the set with a 19-15 lead by a kill from Katie Lanz. The Pride proved that they didn’t want to lose their winning streak, rallying a response to tie the game at 19.
The Pride capitalized on this opportunity to break through with six more points to take the set 25-22 and close out the match with three more kills from Cinel.
This win solidified a ten-game winning streak for the Pride and put them in first place in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) rankings.
The volleyball team looks to continue their dominance in the CAA and extend their winning streak to 11 with their next match-up against the University of Delaware Blue Hens on Saturday, Oct. 22, at 1 p.m. in the David S. Mack Physical Education Center.
Photo courtesy of UNCW Athletics
