The Hofstra volleyball team struggled heavily with errors on Friday, Nov. 5, as they dropped its opening match to Elon University in a three-set sweep. Set scores were 25-22, 25-17 and 25-14 in favor of the Phoenix as they dropped the Pride’s record to 13-11 overall and 7-6 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play.
Graduate outside hitter Ana Martinovic had 12 kills for Hofstra, but her efforts were not enough as the team’s 31 total errors, as opposed to Elon’s 10, fueled the way to an easy Phoenix sweep.
For Elon, senior Leah Daniel, the defending CAA player of the year, totaled 13 kills with a .229 attack percentage en route to the team’s 15th overall win. Daniel’s performance put her kill total at 369, which leads the CAA for the second straight season.
Hofstra battled closely with Elon in the first set, even going on multiple 4-0 runs and taking several leads, but ultimately failed to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Hofstra’s longest streak was six consecutive points as they jumped out to a 19-15 lead thanks to multiple kills from Martinovic and Athina Dimitriadis. However, Elon quickly rallied back with a 4-0 run and eventually reclaimed the lead.
After the Phoenix won a closely-contested first set, they dominated the Pride for the rest of the match. With Hofstra leading 4-2 early in the second stanza, Elon exploded with 10 consecutive points and stormed to a 12-4 advantage.
Elon received help from several players during their impressive run, including multiple kills from Daniel and Kellyn Trowse, as well as back-to-back service aces from Haylie Clark.
From there, the Phoenix never looked back as they won by a comfortable eight-point lead in the second set. Elon closed out the match with an even larger win in the third set, taking it 25-14.
In that final stanza, while there was no double-digit run this time, the Phoenix controlled the entire way. Hofstra’s sloppy play was also put on full display in the third set as they committed 12 total errors, five of which came from Dimitriadis. Dimitriadis is normally one of the Pride’s most accurate attackers. However, the junior struggled heavily in the opening loss.
Following Hofstra’s two-game weekend series against Elon, they will return home to the David S. Mack Physical Education Building on Saturday, Nov. 13, and Sunday, Nov. 14, for two matches against James Madison University.
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
