The largest crowd in the history of the David S. Mack Physical Education Center played host to the final match of the Hofstra Invitational between the Hofstra Pride volleyball team and the Duke University Blue Devils on Saturday, Sept. 21. The Pride lost their second match of the Invitational, 3-1 (21-25, 23-25, 25-19, 21-25). Ana Martinovic led the way for the Pride with 15 kills, and sophomore Ade Owokoniran led the Blue Devils with 16 kills.
The game was tightly contested from the first set, as neither team gained a convincing lead. However, Duke fought back whenever Hofstra started to gain momentum. On multiple occasions where the Pride either led or tied with Blue Devils, Duke went on a 3-0 run to gain some separation. After their 3-0 run to go up 21-18 in the first set, Duke held on and took the set 25-21.
The second set proved to be the most competitive of the night, featuring 12 ties and eight lead changes throughout the set. After Duke went up 5-2, Hofstra rebounded, going on a 6-1 run to take the lead early in the set. The competitiveness of the set was apparent often, as this set featured some of the longest volleys of the two. With a 20-19 Hofstra lead, Duke took a timeout that worked perfectly for the Blue Devils, as they came back to win the set, 25-23.
After going down two sets to none, Hofstra locked in and jumped out to a quick 6-1 lead. Even when Duke fought back to bring the score to 11-9, Hofstra kept putting the set out of reach. They went on a 6-2 run to give them the 17-11 lead. They staved off one last push from Duke, and never let the lead get closer than three. The Pride took their first set of the Invitational, 25-19.
Hofstra continued to build off their momentum, taking another 5-1 lead in the fourth set. Unfortunately for the Pride, Duke continued to fight back, bringing the score within two at 16-14 and eventually tying the set at 18-18. From there, Duke took the lead and held onto it, taking the fourth and final set by a score of 25-21.
Something that the Pride improved upon from their loss against the University of Oregon was a balanced attack. They received double-digit kills from two players and five players recorded at least six kills.
“It’s great. It’s really important,” said Hofstra head coach Emily Mansur. “Again, we need to have that kind of approach and win the match. But it’s good to see different people being able to get kills and do different things for us.”
Martinovic’s 15 kills built off of her impressive match against Oregon. She finished the Invitational with 29 kills, the most on the team.
“It’s something special, and it’s something that we need,” Mansur said. “That was a very positive [takeaway] from the whole weekend.”
Additionally, the Pride received a big boost off the bench from Simge Korkmaz. Appearing in all four sets, she recorded six kills, nine digs, and 19 total attacks. Her serves and energy boost off the bench helped keep the Pride in the game.
“[It was] very important for us to see that we had someone to take the spot of Laura Masciullo when she was having a tough game,” Mansur said.
Masciullo recorded a career-low two kills in the loss.
This was the final match in the Pride’s non-conference schedule. They begin their quest for back-to-back Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) championships on the road against Elon University on Friday, Sept. 27 at 8 p.m.
Image courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
