The Hofstra Volleyball team took all three sets in their victory over the Hampton University Pirates at Hollands Gym in Hampton, Virginia, on Saturday, Oct. 1.
Hofstra secured the victory in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play on the back of aggression up front. The team recorded 47 kills throughout the game, 13 of which came from senior Zyare Abdul-Rahim, 10 from junior Yagmur Cinel and nine from freshman Clara Bal. The team’s overall hitting percentage tallied 0.300 on 110 attempts. The Pirates recorded 26 kills and were led by Kristine Teivane with seven. Clara Smith and Gabby Calloway each collected five.
The Pride served up six aces, courtesy of four by Chiara Cucco, one from Yagmur Cinel and one from Beatriz Alves. The Pirates recorded two service aces by Kristine Teivane.
The Pride were active up front with Alves recording 28 of the 42 total team assists. The runners-up were Cucco with five and Mairi Hadjipetrou with four. Defensively, the team recorded 51 digs; Cucco led the team in digs with 15 and was followed up by Alves with nine and Josie Fronczak with five. Sarah Pierre led the team in solo blocks with three and Emilly Nunes had one solo block and two block assists.
Hofstra won all three sets by a sizable margin, with the final scores tallying 25-18, 25-18 and 25-14.
The first set kicked off with the Pride making a 6-2 run that the Pirates quickly shortened as they went on their own run to close the lead 11-9. The Pride pulled away again on a 9-4 run to put the score at 23-14. The Pirates attempted a comeback as they closed their deficit to 24-18 before succumbing to a kill from Cinel, ending the set 25-18.
The second began with much more competition as both teams traded points, with the Pride streaking a few points together in between. The Pride went on a three-point run to up the score to 16-11 off of kills from Sarah Pierre and Abdul-Rahim and a service ace from Cucco. The Pride continued to pull away on several small runs, as they closed the set out 25-18 on a kill from Abdul-Rahim.
The Pride kicked off the final set trying to jump ahead early as they nabbed the lead once in possession of the ball. Hofstra went on a 10-3 run to pull away. The Pride finished the Pirates off on a four-point run, courtesy of two kills from Bal and attack errors from Hampton’s Kalyn Pierre and Kristine Teivane. The Pride captured the third and final set 25-14.
The Pride won their fifth match in a row, advanced to an even 8-8 overall and moved to 5-0 in CAA play. The Pirates dropped to 3-5 overall and 0-5 in CAA play.
Photo courtesy of Bellmore Images/Hofstra Athletics
