The Hofstra Pride volleyball team won their fourth straight match on Friday, Oct. 18, defeating the University of Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens in straight sets with scores of 25-20, 25-18 and 28-26.
Senior Luisa Sydlik led the way for the Pride with a team high of 22 assists to go along with five kills, six digs and four block assists. Sydlik’s performance was also significant as she surpassed 4,000 career assists during the match.
She is now the fourth player in program history to reach the mark, and the first since Hannah Klemm in 2016.
The Pride’s four-game winning streak is tied for the longest this season as they improve to 12-7 overall, and 5-2 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play. Delaware falls to 11-7 and 3-4 in CAA play.
Laura Masciullo led Hofstra in kills with 10, while Ana Martinovic and Madeline Matheny had eight kills apiece.
Matheny’s eight kills and six digs were career-bests for the freshman as she had her best performance of the season, all while playing in her home state of Delaware.
Both sides were slow to gain momentum early on, but Hofstra found their groove with a 4-0 run halfway through the first set to take a 13-8 lead.
The Pride closed out the set thanks to multiple errors from Delaware, killing any chance to pull themselves back into the set.
Delaware’s struggles on offense were apparent from the beginning as well, posting a .000 attack percentage in each of the first two sets.
The second set was Hofstra’s most impressive, jumping out to a 7-1 lead before forcing a timeout from Delaware. Masciullo was especially impressive, recording more than half of her kills in the second stanza alone.
The Blue Hens began to wake up late, closing the gap before dropping the set. This little bit of momentum carried over, and Delaware took a quick 6-1 lead in the third set.
The Pride were quick to claw their way back, tying the set at 10 before Sanne Maring’s kill put the Pride ahead.
Eager to avoid a sweep, Delaware fought hard to pull ahead, but the Pride would answer at every turn.
Hofstra looked to close out the set when a 7-2 run brought on match-point, but Delaware’s Maria Bellinger went off for three straight kills and a block assist to keep the Blue Hens alive and tie the set 24-24.
Bellinger led all players with a game-high 16 kills, but the surge was too little, too late. The Pride closed it out with back-to-back kills from Sydlik and Martinovic to complete the sweep and extend the team’s winning streak to four, the longest since September.
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
