EASTON, Mass. (August 30, 2023) - The Stonehill College women's volleyball team hosted Bryant University at Merkert Gymnasium for their home opener in a non-conference matchup, falling in four sets, 3-1 (19-25, 25-22, 19-25, 13-25).
Stonehill junior Emma Graves led the team with eight kills, had four block assists, and one dig as well. Freshman Georgia Murphy led the team with a 23.5% hit rate, tallying seven kills while also adding four digs and a team-leading 18 receptions. Senior Kristen DeLorenzo paced the Skyhawks with 10 digs, notched two assists, and had 15 receptions. Freshman Amaya Parnell set up Skyhawks for a team-high 13 assists, with eight digs, and four service aces that led the team. Freshman Lauren MacKellar had five block assists as well as four kills. Senior Lauren McCloskey also recorded five block assists and four kills, while adding three digs as well. Sophomore Delaney Mihelich assisted Skyhawks on 10 sets for the second-most on the team and recorded six digs.
SET 1 | Stonehill jumped out to an early lead in their first set of the season at Merkert Gym, leading 9-4 during the opening stages of the match with Parnell recording an ace and two assists. Bryant would respond with an 11-2 run, building a four-point lead, 15-11. The Skyhawks would score the next two points, but the Bulldogs' lead would hold steady for the remainder of the set, closing it out, 25-19.
SET 2 | The two teams started the second set neck and neck, trading scores early in the (8-8). There would be six ties in the set before the Skyhawks grabbed a lead by scoring five straight (13-8). Stonehill's lead ballooned to eight points (19-11) on the heels of two back-to-back Parnell aces. Bryant would notch the next four to trim their deficit in half (19-15) with the Skyhawks holding onto their four-point lead by splitting the next eight points (23-19). The Bulldogs got the score within two (24-22) but fell in the second set, 25-22 in favor of Stonehill.
SET 3 | The third set began close, with the Skyhawks not letting Bryant pull away despite falling behind by three points multiple times (5-2, 9-6, 10-7, 11-8, 12-9). Stonehill would score on back-to-back possessions to pull within one (12-11). The Bulldogs spurred an 8-2 run over the next ten points to build their largest lead of the set (20-13). Four of the next five scores went to Stonehill (21-17), but Bryant would secure the third set, 25-19.
SET 4 | With the two teams see-sawing back and forth to start the set, the score was 5-5 before the Bulldogs would score the next point and never give up their lead for the rest of the match. The set would end 25-13, as Bryant won the match in four sets, 3-1.
Up Next
Stonehill Volleyball gets right back into it Friday night at 7 p.m. when they take on Harvard in their invitational tournament. The Skyhawks will conclude the Harvard Invitational Saturday afternoon with two matches from Cambridge, one against Holy Cross at 10 a.m. and the final match against New Hampshire at 4 p.m.
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