Volleyball Falls at Sacred Heart, 3-1, on Saturday

Central Connecticut fell at Sacred Heart, 3-1 (19-25, 25-14, 25-20, 25-20), on Saturday in Northeast Conference volleyball action. The Blue Devils took the first set before the Pioneers rallied to take the match.

With the loss CCSU slips to 9-7 overall and 1-2 in NEC play. SHU improves to 8-6 overall and stays unbeaten in conference play at 2-0.

The first set was tied 4-4 before straight straight points by the Blue Devils pushed the lead to 9-4. The Pioneers closed to within 16-14, but CCSU took advantage of errors by SHU to close out the set 25-19.

Sacred Heart jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the second set and never trailed. The Pioneers outscored the Blue Devils, 9-1, during a run in the middle of the set to even the match.

The Pioneers maintained control into the third set when they scored the first three points and led throughout the set. After hitting .314 in the second set, SHU hit .273 as a team in the third set, while limiting CCSU to a .154 team hitting percentage. A kill by senior Makenna Lommori got Central to within 4-3, but SHU came back with three consecutive points and never allowed the set to get any closer.

CCSU led 4-3 in the fourth set, but Sacred Heart scored the next four points to take the lead. Central managed to come back to tie the score at 9-9 after a kill by freshman Raquel Quirarte and then a block by Lommori and Quirarte highlighted a 3-0 run. The Pioneers then outscored the Blue Devils over a 9-2 stretch to take control of the set. A run of three consecutive points got CCSU within 22-19, but back-to-back points by SHU ended the rally.

Lommori posted a double-double with 25 assists and 14 digs to go with six kills and three block assists. Junior Rachel Fish, along with freshman Kaitlyn Kushman and Quirarte also had double-figure digs. Junior Erika Jones and Quirarte led the Blue Devils with eight kills each, while sophomore Maddie Smith had a team-high five block assists.

Sarah Krufka led Sacred Heart with a match-high 17 kills, while Kiki Robinson had 29 assists. Bruna Bon had 19 digs and Katie Direnzo had five block assists to help the Pioneers slow the CCSU offense.

Central returns to action with a 1 p.m. match at Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday.