Volleyball Downs Manhattan, 3-1, on Friday

The Central Connecticut volleyball team remained undefeated on the year with a 3-1 win over Manhattan on Friday at the Hartford Invitational in West Hartford, CT. The Blue Devils improved to 4-0 on the season with the win.

CCSU took the first set of the match, 25-19. The Blue Devils used a 10-2 run midway through the set to build a comfortable cushion. Sophomore Raquel Quirarte had four aces during the run. Consecutive kills by freshman Gala Galabova and Quirarte closed the set out.

Senior Cassidy Stankowski served CCSU to a 5-0 lead to open the second set. The Jaspers came back to tie the set at 7-7, but Quirarte would give the Blue Devils the lead back with five service points and her ace made it 13-7. Central would maintain the lead throughout the set and took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-18 win in the set.

The Jaspers took an early lead, 5-2, in the third set, but the Blue Devils would come back to lead 9-7. The teams would go back-and-forth in the set before Manhattan closed out the set with three straight points to win it, 28-26.

Central trailed in the fourth set, but a 5-1 run put the Blue Devils ahead 15-12. Central would not trail the rest of the set, but the Jaspers would get back to 24-24. Quirarte would close the match out for CCSU with a kill and ace back-to-back to win the set 26-24.

Quirarte led the way with 18 kills and added nine digs, eight aces and five block assists. Sophomore Kaitlyn Kushman had 21 assists, while freshman Erin McDermott added 20. Stankowski had a team-high 16 digs. 

The Blue Devils play Rhode Island on Saturday at 10:00 a.m.  and then face Hartford at 7:00 p.m. in the Hartford Invitational.