The Hofstra volleyball team was doomed by attack errors once again as they dropped their second straight match to the College of Charleston on Sunday, Oct. 17, at TD Arena.
After committing 17 errors the day prior in a sweep to the Cougars, the Pride went backwards and committed 26 errors in a four-set loss. Set scores were 21-25, 25-21, 25-17 and 25-23 as Hofstra fell to 11-10 overall and 5-5 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play.
Hofstra was also overpowered by the strong performance of Lexi Wierzbicki who had 19 kills in the match with a hitting percentage of .318. In addition, Anna Smith finished with 10 kills to help Charleston win its second straight match.
Hofstra rallied back from an early deficit in the first set and went back and forth with the Cougars a majority of the time. However, after the Pride caught fire and finally took a lead at 19-18, Charleston immediately took back momentum and never looked back.
Smith, Wierzbicki and Molly Russell each recorded kills to lead the Cougars on a 6-2 run and a 25-21 first set victory.
Hofstra evened up the match at one after taking the second set; its first and only set win of the weekend. Several Pride players easily had their best performances of the match as Florencia Wolkowyski, Athina Dimitriadis and Bianca Bucciarelli each racked up three kills in the set.
Charleston kept the score close throughout, but the Pride’s defense was able to hold back the Cougars and allow the offense to take over. However, Hofstra’s 25-21 win was not enough to propel them to another set win and they dropped the next two.
In the third set, with the score knotted at nine, Charleston broke away with a 6-1 scoring run and went ahead 15-10. A few minutes later and with a four-point lead, the Cougars exploded again with an 8-1 run and expanded the lead to 10.
Following their 25-17 victory to take a 2-1 advantage in the match, Charleston finished it off with a much closer 25-23 score in the fourth and final set. Hofstra jumped out to a 3-0 lead, however that lead was very brief, as the Cougars responded with five straight points.
The two teams went back and forth throughout the rest of the set, including trading a couple of 4-0 runs. With the score tied at 21, Charleston took the next three points and got to match point. Hofstra made things interesting and cut it to a one-point deficit, but Claire Campbell recorded a kill off of Martinovic and sealed the win.
Hofstra suffered its first weekend sweep in CAA play this season and will look to get back on track following its bye week against UNC-Wilmington on Saturday, Oct. 30.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
