Skyhawks tie program record for most wins in a season

Sophomore Sydney Maxey posted her 16th double-double of the season to lift the Skyhawks over the Owls.

EASTON, Mass. (November 8, 2011) – The second-seeded Stonehill College women's volleyball team advanced to the Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) semifinal round for the second-straight season with a 3-1 triumph over seventh-seeded Southern Connecticut State University by scores of 23-25, 25-22, 25-22 and 25-14 on Tuesday night at Merkert Gymnasium.

Stonehill pushes its record to 27-5 overall tying the record for most wins in a season which was set in 1996 (27-8). The Skyhawks will have a chance to eclipse that mark on Friday, November 11 against third-seeded Adelphi University at a time to be determined later. The Panthers advanced to the semifinal round by defeating sixth-seeded Pace University, 3-0, earlier today.

With New Haven's 3-1 loss to eighth-seeded UMass Lowell, Stonehill will host the final four of the NE-10 Tournament as the highest remaining seed. Southern Connecticut's season wraps up at 19-11 overall and 8-7 in NE-10 play.

Sophomore outside hitter Sydney Maxey (Hutto, Texas/Hutto) led a quartet of Skyhawks in double-figures in kills with 14 to go along with 19 digs for her 17^th double-double this season.

Classmate and right-side hitter Kirsten Arvidson (Andover, Mass./Andover) and freshman middle blocker Mary-Kate Catton (San Diego, Calif./Academy of Our Lady of Peace) added 12 kills while newly minted NE-10 Rookie of the Week Meaghan Lee (Hanover, Mass./Notre Dame Academy) finished with 11 kills and seven block assists.

Freshman setter Emily Iverson (Elmhurst, Ill./York) piloted the offense with a match-high 48 assists, 14 digs, one kill and one service ace. Junior libero Erin Kelly (Tinley Park, Ill./Marist) tied Maxey for the match-high in digs with 19 total on the night.

Laura Huselton (Penfield, N.Y./Penfield) notched five kills putting the senior outside hitter two kills away from 1,000 in her career.

For Southern Connecticut, sophomore middle blocker Sarah Beres (Ellington, Conn./Ellington) led all players with 15 kills on 35 swings for a .400 hitting percentage. Junior setter Kimberly Lachowicz (Mansfield, Texas/Mansfield) dished out 38 assists and compiled 13 digs while senior right-side hitter Megan Hiss (Trinidad, Colo./Hoehne/Adams State) put down nine kills and added nine digs.

Locked at 22-22 in set one, Stonehill committed back-to-back attacking errors to give Southern Connecticut a 24-22 advantage. After a timeout was called by the Skyhawks bench, Maxey put down her set-leading seventh kill but Beres responded back with a kill of her own on the next service to claim a 25-22 set one victory.

Stonehill has only dropped the first set six times this season out of 32 matches played with Southern Connecticut notching two of those first set triumphs.

The Skyhawks responded over the next two sets with their defensive play compiling 50 digs and six blocks alongside 19 kills from the offense to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

Set three featured Stonehill's most efficient offense of the night as the Skyhawks tallied a .452 hitting percentage on 16 kills, two errors and 31 total attacks. Stonehill raced out to a 19-11 lead as Arvidson hammered down five kills to lead the offense. Lee also added four kills while Maxey contributed three.

Stonehill remains undefeated at home this season posting a 12-0 record at Merkert Gymnasium. The Skyhawks last lost at home came against the University of New Haven on October 30, 2010, a 3-1 setback. Since then, Stonehill has won 15-straight matches at home.

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