By Kevin Carroll – ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
Following a tough loss on Friday to UNCW, the Pride bounced back in a big way on Sunday afternoon, soundly defeating the College of Charleston Cougars three sets to none at the David S. Mack Physical Education Center.
“We were able to play our game to take them out of system,” said head coach Emily Mansur after the victory.
It was a completely refocused and reenergized team that showed up to play Sunday, as the Pride only fell behind on three occasions, completely controlling the match from first serve to match point.
The Pride only committed 12 attack errors, a vast improvement over Friday’s match, where the team committed 29 errors.
A thunderous kill from Brianna Montgomery would put the Pride ahead to start the first set, and although Charleston hung tough throughout the set, they were never able to gain the lead from Hofstra. Veronika Kostova and Nanishka Perez led the Pride attack with five kills apiece in the set, and Hofstra was able to hold off the Cougars, 25-20.
The second set was more of the same, with the Pride controlling the majority of the action, keeping the Cougars at arm’s length the whole way. Charleston, finding themselves down 21-16 late in the set, managed to score four of the next five points to pull within two points of the lead, but Perez answered with two kills to halt the Cougars’ momentum. A costly attack error from Charleston’s Melissa Morello gave the Pride a 25-20 second-set victory.
The Cougars came out swinging in the third set, running out to a 4-1 lead, before watching as Hofstra rattled off six straight points to go ahead. Charleston fought back to make it a one-point game on multiple occasions, but Hofstra stood firm. The Pride pulled away at the end with a Leticia Valente kill clinching the set for the Pride, 25-19, securing a three-sets-to-none match victory.
Kostova bounced back from an off game against UNCW on Friday to lead the Pride with 10 kills.
“We need Veronika, as you see, the result is very different when she is here,” said Mansur. Perez and Valente chipped in with nine kills apiece. Hannah Klemm continued her impressive season with 39 assists. For College of Charleston, Melissa Morello led all attackers with 15 kills.
The Pride volleyball team improved to 16-9 with the victory, with a 7-2 mark in CAA action. Hofstra returns to action next Sunday against Northeastern, a team that Hofstra beat in five sets earlier this season. That matchup will take place at home, and first serve will be at 1 p.m.
