Volleyball Tops Liberty in Five Sets

The Central Connecticut women's volleyball team earned its first victory of the 2014 season on Friday afternoon at the Brown Invitational.  The Blue Devils (1-6) topped Liberty (6-4) in a dramatic five set match that saw three sets go to extra points.

CCSU captured the first set 25-21 and the second 28-26, but Liberty rallied to win the third (28-26) and fourth (25-21).  The Blue Devils broke ties of 12-12, 13-13, 14-14 and 15-15 to win the fifth and decisive set in extra points, 17-15.

Central was led by 21 kills and a .353 hitting percentage from junior Heather Trueman.

The Blue Devils did not trail in the fifth set, but were tied with Liberty on four occasions late in the match.  Each time CCSU answered with a point.  The Blue Devils finally pulled away and ended the match after an attack error by Haley Jeffcoat and an ace by sophomore Rachel Fish.

Trueman was one of four Blue Devils to post double-digit kills in the match.  Freshman Nicole Celarek (16), senior Rachel Dunlap (14) and sophomore Brooke Schwab (11) also had strong games on the attack.

Dunlap posted a .565 hitting percentage to go along with her 14 kills.

Junior Makenna Lommori ran the offense with 57 assists.

Defensively, Schwab posted nine total blocks, two solo and seven assists.

Fish led the reception defense with 19 digs.  Trueman also posted double-digit digs with 15.

In addition to her 57 assists, Lommori posted five kills, seven digs and four block assists.

The Blue Devils return to action tomorrow against Fairfield and Brown.