The Hofstra volleyball team took their six-match winning streak to San Francisco University to take on the Dons, where they fell two sets to three in the five-set match Friday night, Sept. 7.

It was a difficult start to the match, as they lost both of the first two stanzas by set scores of 25-20.

After those first two sets, Hofstra gained some momentum as they came all the way back to tie it at two sets a piece.

The Pride were jolted by a .542 attacking percentage

The Pride easily took the set with a 25-10 victory where they posted a .542 attack percentage and later followed that with 25-23 win that was a bit tougher to come by.

The game-deciding set was a hard-fought match eventually attained by San Francisco as they pulled away from a Hofstra match point to win 16-14 and snap the Pride’s six match winning streak.

In the loss, senior Michela Rucli had a career-high tying 11 blocks, becoming the program’s all-time leader in block assists with 394.

Other notable performances were junior Laura Masciullo, as she led Hofstra with a game-high 23 kills, and freshman Aisha Skinner who had the games second highest total with 17 kills accompanied with 15 digs.

Star setter Luisa Sydik assisted on an astounding 59 kills, more than doubling San Francisco’s leader in assists – Erin Anthony with 27.

For the bay area team, Kathya Garcia led the way with 15 kills with Kate Ashman falling right behind with 13.

The loss drops the Pride to 6-2 on the season while the Dons improve to 3-4.

Hofstra’s has two matches on Saturday as they hope to end their California trip with a couple of victories to overshadow the Friday blemish.

“It’s going to be very important how we respond to tonight’s loss,” said Hofstra Head Coach Emily Mansur. What I’m going to look for is how are we going to be as a team as we step on the court tomorrow and how we’re going to fight back to get a win.”

Hofstra first game on Saturday will take place against Southern Utah University in San Francisco at 11 a.m., while the second has them slated against St. Mary’s University in Moraga at 7 p.m.

Image courtesy of Hofstra Athletics