Volleyball Falls to Bryant in Season Finale
Volleyball dropped its season finale match to Bryant on Saturday, losing in five sets to the first seed in the Northeast Conference.
MATCH INFORMATION
FINAL SCORE CCSU 2 Bryant 3
RECORDS (CCSU 9-17, 6-8 NEC) Bryant (20-10, 12-2 NEC)
LOCATION Detrick Gymnasium | New Britain, CT
KEY MOMENTS
- Both teams were cooking in the early goings of Saturday's match, trading blow for blow up to eight. The Bulldogs rattled off a three point run to try and run away with the set, but the Blue Devils answered right back with one of their own, tying things back up at 11.
- The Bulldogs seemed to be pulling away with a 15-12 lead, but back-to-back blocks from CCSU lit a fire under the Blue Devils. CCSU went on an 8-0 run (with three kills from Emma Henderson) and didn't look back from there. Henderson got one more kill in before an error won CCSU the set 25-18. Henderson finished the first set with a game-high seven kills.
- The Blue Devils took advantage of three straight Bryant errors to open up the second set with a 3-0 lead. Isabelle Roufs and Mia Lombardo combined for a block that helped extend the Blue Devils lead further, putting them up 7-3.
- The Bulldogs tried to claw back into this one but never led in the second set. Roufs built off an already impressive first set with two kills, a solo block and a block assist in the second.
- On the brink of sweeping the first seed in the NEC standings, the Blue Devils looked as ready as ever to end this match. They came out blazing in the third with two more blocks that put them up 8-4 early.
- Bryant made its way back as the set went on, but another Blue Devils continued to chip away. A Nyjha Marcelin killed followed by an Ashlyn Eisenga ace put the Blue Devils up three late.
- But the Bulldogs again rallied, tying things up at 22-22. Marcelin was able to get CCSU to within two, but a 4-1 run from Bryant forced a fourth set.
- CCSU again had momentum early in the fourth set as Eline van Heijningen and Isabella Bratzke combined for kills that put CCSU up 3-0.
- The Blue Devils could not get the offense to string together points after this, though, as the Bulldogs did just that the rest of the fourth. They took the the fourth 25-18, forcing a winner-take-all fifth set.
- Tori Boulay served up an ace to kick off the deciding fifth set, and her classmate Marcelin recorded back-to-back solo blocks to give CCSU a strong 4-0 cushion early.
- The Bulldogs rallied and tied things back up at seven before another Marcelin kill gave CCSU the lead, but an 8-2 run from Bryant clinched things for the Bulldogs.
NOTES
- The Blue Devils honored their five seniors before Saturday's match (Samantha McCreath, Henderson, Eisenga, Nicole Kramer and van Heijningen). The five of them have played a collective 1,432 sets for the Blue Devils.
- The Blue Devils had 29 total blocks (20 assists, nine solo) against the Bulldogs. This total matches the season high for the team, which also came at Bryant in their September 25 match.
- Henderson recorded her tenth double-double of the season with 12 kills and 14 digs. This somehow is not the highest total for her in a season. In 2019, Henderson recorded an insane 15 matches with a double-double.