By Kiana Trice-Hill — STAFF WRITER
The Hofstra volleyball team routed Elon University’s volleyball team three sets to none on Friday at the David S. Mack Physical Education Center. After being on the road for two weeks, the Pride came back home to win their fourth CAA victory of the season.
The Pride won by scores of 25-19, 25-14 and 25-19.
“I think we played well,” Hofstra head coach Emily Mansur said. “We served really well today which helped us make the game just a little bit more simple and that helped us to be more successful.”
A couple of minor mistakes were made on both sides of the court. Both teams went back and forth struggling to keep the ball in bounds. The Phoenix did their best to catch up with the Pride but a strong kill by Ivania Ortiz fueled Hofstra to lead the first set 19-15. After that, Hofstra breezed through the rest of the first set, earning the Pride’s first victory of the match.
Hofstra sophomore Laura Masciullo finished strong with a double-double, notching 15 kills and 11 digs.
“Laura has been doing a great job,” Mansur said. “It’s nice to see her get back and be able to control the ball when there aren’t any good sets and to just be a smarter volleyball player. It’s good to see her continue to grow every match.”
Freshman Ivania Ortiz collected five kills and seven digs, senior Doris Bogoje had eight kills and three digs and freshman Sanne Maring had seven kills.
For Elon, senior Sydney Busa had seven kills and five digs. Junior Kam Terry had 10 digs to along with her six kills and sophomore Nori Thomas had five kills.
The Pride finished with 39 kills, while the Phoenix had 24.
After an easy second set victory, Elon started off strong leading Hofstra in the third set, 9-7. With back to back kills by Masciullo, the Pride took control to tie the set at 10. The Phoenix trailed a couple of times but with Hofstra’s intensity and drive, Elon just couldn’t seem to catch up.
Even though Hofstra overmatched Elon in kills, blocks, assists and digs, Elon beat the Pride in the ace margin, seven to four.
“We’ve been stressing that to just control our sight of the net and hopefully to be able to get three sets or just easier games, just so we won’t get exhausted at the end of our second match going into the third match.”
Hofstra will host James Madison University this Tuesday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. in the David S. Mack Physical Education Center. The Dukes are 12-2 this season and are in fourth place in the CAA standings.
