Volleyball Sweeps Saturday Matches, Wins Third Straight

The Central Connecticut volleyball won two matches Saturday at the Crosstown Tournament to complete an unbeaten weekend. CCSU held off Lehigh for a 3-2 win in the day's first match and then swept Norfolk St. in straight sets to close out the day.

Central improved to 4-2 on the season with the two wins Saturday.

MATCH 1: CCSU 3, Lehigh 2

In a close match throughout, CCSU downed Lehigh, 3-2 (25-22, 25-21, 21-25, 17-25, 18-16). Freshman Samantha McCreath led the Blue Devils with 16 kills and 20 digs for her second straight double-double, and junior Raquel Quirarte added 17 kills. 

Sophomore Erin McDermott had a team-high 34 assists, while junior Kaitlyn Kushman added a double-double with 31 assists and 12 digs. Senior Lindsey Massicotte had a team-high 22 digs. Sophomores Madelyn Kaprelyan and Morgan Woycik added 14 and 10 kills, respectively. Freshman Eline van Heijningen had a team-high four blocks.

CCSU took the opening set after breaking a tie at 9-9 with three straight points. Central would lead the rest of the frame and back-to-back kills by Woycik and McCreath would close out the set.

Central would score five straight points in the second set to take a 17-12 lead and would take a two-set lead on a kill by Woycik to close out the frame.

The Mountain Hawks would rally in the third set by scoring the first seven points to take control and eventually hold off Central to keep the match going. In the fourth set, Lehigh scored six straight points midway through the frame to build a 15-9 lead before eventually taking the set to send the match to a deciding frame.

Lehigh led, 6-4, in the fifth set before Quirarte had three straight kills as part of a 5-0 run to give CCSU a 9-6 lead. CCSU would trail, 16-15, with Lehigh serving for the match, but a Kaprelyan would sandwich a pair of kills around a Mountain Hawk error to give the Blue Devils the fifth set and the match.

Match 2: CCSU 3, Norfolk St. 0

Central completed its undefeated weekend with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-20) win over Norfolk St. Woycik had 11 kills and McCreath had 10 to lead the CCSU attack.

Kushman had 23 assists and McDermott finished with 10. The Blue Devils held NSU to .126 attack percentage, while senior Maddie Smith had a team-high seven blocks to lead the team.

CCSU used a run of five unanswered points to take an early 7-1 lead in the opening set and never trailed. The Spartans would get within, 11-10, but following a CCSU timeout the Blue Devils would use a 9-1 spurt to stretch the advantage to 22-14. Back-to-back kills from Woycik and McCreath would close out the opening frame.

The Blue Devils led by a point midway through the second set at 15-14 before scoring three straight points to extend their lead. Smith would record a block to make it 24-20 and then recorded the set-winning kill.

A kill by Kaprelyan opened a run of six straight points by Central in the third set. A block by freshman Nicole Kramer capped the run and put CCSU ahead, 12-5. NSU would cut the deficit to 22-19, but Woycik would record the final three kills for the Blue Devils to close out the set and end the match. 

Central Connecticut returns to action on Friday, Sept. 8, when it faces Niagara at the Hartford Invitational.