The Hofstra volleyball team suffered a fourth consecutive loss and second straight sweep on Saturday, March 27, as they fell to Northeastern University in three sets.
After starting the season 3-0, the Pride has suffered three tough losses to the Huskies in their last four matches and now sit in last place in the Colonial Athletic Association North Division with a 3-4 overall record and 0-4 conference record.
Hofstra came out of the gate strong and traded leads back and forth with the Huskies to start the first set. However, with the score knotted at nine, Northeastern exploded with a 7-0 streak to make it a 16-9 score. The Pride attackers continued to struggle with keeping the ball in play, which has plagued them all season, and committed three errors during Northeastern’s run.
The Pride responded by taking five out of the next six points to make it a three-point match, but Northeastern took back control quickly and closed out the set winning 25-18.
Hofstra played much better in the second set, but still lost by a close score of 28-26. The Pride trailed big early on and fell behind 14-9 as Northeastern looked like they would run away again.
However, multiple kills from Juliana Vaz and Damla Tokman brought the Pride back to a tie score at 14 a piece. The two teams went back and forth down the stretch until Hofstra used another short run to reach set point at 25-24.
With a chance to even that match at one, Athina Dimitriadis took the ball to serve, but committed a tough service error and allowed Northeastern to tie it. Hofstra regained the lead and had another chance to win the set, but Northeastern’s Erica Staunton delivered a clutch kill to even the score again.
From there, the Huskies won the next three points and took a 2-0 lead in the match.
Northeastern took control of the third set and dominated the Pride as they won 25-16 and completed their second consecutive sweep.
Hofstra held a brief three-point lead early in the set as Vaz continued her offensive outbreak with her eighth and ninth kills of the match. However, Northeastern fought back and used an 11-3 scoring run to take a five-point lead.
Northeastern continued to dominate the set from there as they used another 7-0 run to go ahead by nine. The Huskies closed it out shortly after, handing the Pride their fourth consecutive loss.
Despite the loss, Juliana Vaz had her best offensive match of the season with a team-leading 10 kills. Ana Martinovic was second behind her with eight kills and Maria Branco led the team with 24 assists.
Nailah Jenkins led the Northeastern offense with 13 kills and Samantha Shupe recorded a match-high 28 assists for the victorious Huskies.
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
