In the “Battle for Long Island”, the Hofstra Pride volleyball team came away with the 3-1 win against their rivals, the Stony Brook University Seawolves, on Tuesday, Sept. 3 at Pritchard Gymnasium. With the win, the Pride moves to 9-1 overall against Stony Brook with six consecutive wins.

The Seawolves jumped out to an early lead against the Pride, winning the first set 25-23. The Pride bounced back from the early set loss to win the next three, 25-23, 25-23 and 25-20 respectively.

The Hofstra seniors continued to show the newcomers how to win matches as Laura Masciullo led the Pride with 18 kills. Masciullo now has 1,357 career kills, which is only five kills shy of sixth place on the Hofstra all-time kills list.

Senior setter Luisa Sydlik continued to stay hot as she has now recorded double figure assists in the last 69 matches, including 59 assists against Stony Brook – a season high for her. Hofstra recorded 63 total assists.

The key for the Pride to earn the win was dominance up front at the net. On the day, the Pride recorded 66 kills to Stony Brook’s 45. Hofstra also outhit the Seawolves .268 to .250.

In addition to Masciullo reaching double-digit kills, three other Pride players reached a high number of kills. Junior Ana Martinovic had a career-high 15 kills, freshman Athina Dimitriadis had 14 kills and Luz Divina Nuñez Sierra had 12.

Transfer student Juliana Vaz led the way defensively as she recorded her season-high in digs with 29 on the day.

Hofstra had almost twice as many errors as Stony Brook with 25 to the Seawolves’ 13.

The Pride continue their six-match road trip as they take their 2-2 record to Florida to play Florida International University in the first of two matches in the FIU Panther Fest.

Image courtesy of Hofstra Athletics