Senior Delia Phillips leads Stonehill with 23 kills at today's tri-match |
Phillips leads Skyhawks with 23 kills on the afternoon
OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. (October 17, 2015) – The Stonehill College volleyball team split two matches at a tri-match this afternoon, hosted by the New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury, New York. Stonehill defeated Mercy College, 3-0 (25-9, 25-22, 25-20), in today's opener, before falling to the New York Institute of Technology 3-0 (25-12, 25-18, 25-22).
Stonehill 3, Mercy 0
Senior outside hitter Delia Phillips (St. James, New York/Smithtown East) led a balanced offense effort for Stonehill against Mercy, hitting a match high 15 kills. Sophomore Katherine Delanty (Smithtown, New York/Smithtown West) added nine kills to go with seven digs and a blocked shot, and classmate Marykay Nasby (Belle Plaine, Minnesota/Belle Plaine) chipped in with eight kills and a dig.
Junior setter Taylor Stevens (Foster, Rhode Island/Ponaganset) compiled her third-straight match of 35+ assists with a match-high 36. Stevens also contributed five kills, eight digs and two service aces.
Defensively, sophomore libero Claire Manuszak (Indianapolis, Indiana/Bishop Chatard) had 20 digs and senior outside hitter Kelsey Weymouth (North Attleboro, Massachusetts/North Attleboro) tallied 13 digs in addition to three kills and an assist. Freshman Megan Pennino (Wantagh, New York/Wantagh) turned in four kills to help the Skyhawk attack.
Freshman outside hitter Peyton Olson (Albany, Oregon/West Albany) led the Mercy attack with five kills, seven digs, one block and three service aces. Sophomore outside hitter Sa'Naya Johnson (Elizabeth, New Jersey/Elizabeth) collected four kills and a block, while freshman setter Brooke Runge (Closter, New Jersey/Northern Valley Demarest) aided the offense with eight assists, five digs and one kill. Freshman libero Brianna Heffernan (East Islip, New York/East Islip) supplied a team-high 14 digs from the back row.
Stonehill jumped on Mercy in the first set, building up a 19-6 margin, before running away with the set 25-9. The Skyhawks recorded a match-high 17 kills and hitting percentage (.351) in the first stanza. The second set was tightly contested, featuring eight ties and five lead changes. After a back and forth first nine points, the Skyhawks rallied off three straight, punctuated by a service ace by Taylor Stevens. The Mavericks rallied back and tied the score up at 16, but that was the closest they would come, succumbing to the Skyhawks 25-22.
Stonehill held an early 11-5 advantage in set three but allowed Mercy to chip away at the deficit and eventually pull to within one point. That's all the ground the Skyhawls would conceive, tallying five straight points to take the match, 25-20. Weymouth hammered home three kills and Nasby had three putaways as well to pace the offense in set three.
NYIT 3, Stonehill 0
Senior outside hitter Kelsey Weymouth (North Attleboro, Massachusetts/North Attleboro) recorded eight kills to go with 10 digs defensively and three assists. ClassmateDelia Phillips (St. James, New York/Smithtown East) hit .174 with eight kills, while sophomore Katherine Delanty (Smithtown, New York/Smithtown West) totaled seven.
Junior setter Taylor Stevens (Foster, Rhode Island/Ponaganset) registered nine digs, 18 assists, and three kills while leading the team in hitting percentage (.333). Sophomore LiberoClaire Manuszak (Indianapolis, Indiana/Bishop Chatard) added five digs, two assists and a kill.
Senior middle blocker Kate Brock (River Edge, New Jersey/River Dell) turned in a match-high 13 kills on an impressive .500 hitting percentage. Classmates Emily Mankowski (Naperville, Ill. / Naperville North) and Karolina Moderova (Zalesie, Slovakia) each tallied nine kills, while Moderova added four digs and an assist.
Sophomore setter Allison Fowler (Centennial, Colorado/Cherry Creek) finished the match with a double-double 31 assists (10.33/set) and 11 digs.
NYIT claimed the first set, 25-12, which was close early. The Bears led 12-11 following an attach error on Mankowski. Two consecutive kills and an ace gave the Bears some breathing room, but a kill by Phillips brought the score to 16-12. NYIT tallied off nine consecutive points capped by a Fowler kill to take set one, 25-12.
Much like the first frame, the second set was close early, with the Bears eventually claiming a 15-10 advantage on an attack error by Delanty. Stonehill would close the gap to three (15-12) on an attack error by Rachel Guida (Huntington, New York/Sacred Heart), before NYIT stretched its lead back to six (19-13) and eventually prevailed 25-18 to take a 2-0 set lead.
The third frame was the closest contested set of the match with both teams knotted at 22. But two errors by Stonehill gave NYIT a lead they wouldn't relinquish, closing out the set and match 25-22.
Stonehill (8-12, 2-6 NE-10) will return home Friday, October 23rd, to square off with Pace University in the Dig Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Match at 7 p.m. NYIT (16-4, 5-3 ECC) travels to Queens New York on Tuesday, October 20th for a match against Queens College at 7 p.m.
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