Volleyball Falls in Five Sets to LIU Brooklyn

The Central Connecticut volleyball team fell to LIU Brooklyn, 3-2 (22-25, 25-15, 25-23, 16-25, 15-13), in the Northeast Conference opener on Friday night at Detrick Gymnasium. Junior Raquel Quirarte had 12 kills and 11 digs and freshman Samantha McCreath added 10 kills and 16 digs for the double-doubles to lead CCSU. The Blue Devils fall to 7-5 overall and 0-1 in the NEC with the defeat.

Central returns to action on Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. against St. Francis Brooklyn.

The match was a tightly-contested contest throughout the evening in front of an energetic crowd. CCSU took the opening set, 25-22, before the Blackbirds rallied to take the next two sets by counts of 25-15 and 25-23. Central would regroup to take the fourth set, 25-16, and force a decisive fifth set. In the final set, the score was tied 12-12 before LIU scored two straight points to build a lead it would not surrender en route to closing out the match.

Quirarte led CCSU with a team-high 12 kills. Sophomore Madelyn Kaprelyan added 11 kills. Junior Kaitlyn Kushman had a team-high 22 assists and sophomore Erin McDermott added 21 assists. Senior Lindsey Massicotte led the defense with 22 digs, while senior Maddie Smith had six blocks as Central totalled 12 as a team.