Volleyball Opens With 3-0 Win Over Fairfield

Freshman Raquel Quirarte posted 17 kills and just a pair of errors as the Central Connecticut volleyball team opened up its 2015 campaign with a 3-0 victory over Fairfield in the first match of the Blue Devil Classic on Friday afternoon.  Central won 29-27, 25-23 and 29-27 to move to 1-0 on the season.  They'll play two more times on Saturday as the tournament continues.

The Blue Devils started strong with 18 kills and just a pair of errors in the first set to win 29-27 and take a 1-0 lead.  In the second set Central fell behind quickly 7-2, but rallied to tie the set 15-15, before falling behind again 19-15.  Down 20-16, they rallied to take the set 25-23, and the 2-0 lead.  The third set proved equally as tight, but the Stags took an 18-12 with a quick spurt in the middle of the set.  Central rallied, again, and won 29-27 to claim their first win of the season.

Quirarte's 17 kills came in her first collegiate match for the Blue Devils.  Her .366 hitting percentage led all players in the match.  Senior Makenna Lommori, a three-time All-Conference selection for the Blue Devils, picked up where she left off last season with 37 assists, nine kills, seven digs and four block assists in the match.

Junior Erika Jones, playing in her first match with CCSU, added 10 kills while junior Brooke Schwab had seven to go along with a block solo and four block assists.  Central had 16 block assists in the match.

Sophomore Lindsey Massicotte led the defense with a team-high 17 digs, as the Blue Devils posted 45 as a team.

Central will continue on Saturday with a pair of matches, beginning at 11 a.m. vs. Bucknell and then at 6:30 p.m. vs. NJIT.