Volleyball Falters in Four in CCC Debut at Gordon

WENHAM, Mass. – In its CCC opener, Suffolk volleyball saw its six-game win streak come to an end Tuesday night as the Rams came out on the wrong side of a 3-1 decision to Gordon at Kanas Court at the Bennett Center. The Rams first setback in 10 days was one of the closest matches in recent memory with set scores of 23-25, 25-23, 27-25 and 29-27.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 1 | Gordon 3
RECORDS: Suffolk (8-3, 0-1 CCC) | Gordon (4-6, 1-0 CCC)  

SET ONE RECAP (25-19, SUFFOLK)

• Suffolk leapt out to a 7-2 lead. 
• The Fighting Scots surged back and pulled within one, 9-8. 
• Four unanswered points from the Rams made it a 13-8 set. 
• Gordon got ahead with a 6-0 run, 14-13. 
• Suffolk used a timeout to calm down the host and out of the huddle went on a 5-1 stretch to regain the advantage, 18-15. 
• Gordon used its first timeout with Suffolk up, 22-19. 
• A Grace Cervenka kill and McKenna Keowen ace came out of the break, which set-up set going and forced the Fighting Scots to use their second timeout of the set. 
• An attack error by Valerie Nilan gave Suffolk the set, 25-19.  

SET TWO RECAP (25-23, GORDON)

• Just like the first frame, Suffolk gained a 7-3 lead at the start. 
• Gordon took over from there thanks to a 10-2 run that put the Rams in a 13-9 hole. 
• Suffolk caught up and leveled the playing field at 17-all. 
• Both teams put together a pair of 3-0 runs to keep things even at 23-23. 
• Gordon used a timeout to calm down and unlike the first set it helped as it scored back-to-back points to clinch the stanza.  

SET THREE RECAP (27-25, GORDON)

• A hard-fought battle persisted from the get go as the score tied 10 times, the last at 25-25.
• Consecutive kills from Gordon allowed the host to claim the set, 27-25.  

SET FOUR RECAP (29-27, GORDON

• Suffolk held the upper hand near the midway point, 12-8. 
• The Fighting Scots battled back and flipped the script, 13-12. 
• From there, Gordon put four points between it and Suffolk, 20-16. 
• The blue-and-gold would not go down without a fight. It clawed back with a 4-1 spurt to restore the one-point gap, 21-20. 
• The rest of the way it came down to what team could couple points together an attack error by Keowen followed by a Joey Keltner kill gave the Fighting Scots the frame, 29-27. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Keowen paced Suffolk's offense with 13 kills to go along with six digs, three aces and a pair of blocks. 
• Alina Nowakowski added 10 kills on a .368 swinging clip. She added two blocks and one assist. 
• Cervenka and Jasmine James added eight kills and seven kills, respectively. 
• Morgan Kelsey served six aces and tallied nine digs. 
• Harmony Johnson contributed a 42-assist, four-dig, four-ace, one-block, one kill effort. 
• Kenzley Bell registered 14 digs, two assists and one ace. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk began its CCC campaign against Gordon for the first time in program history. 
• The Rams lifted the lid on their CCC calendar on the road for the first time. 
• Both of the blue-and-gold's CCC debuts ended with a 3-1 score. 
• Suffolk is 0-2 in its first CCC match of the season. 
• Suffolk dipped to 2-9 all-time against the Fighting Scots. 
• Suffolk and Gordon went to four sets for just the second time in the all-time series, first since 2011.
• The Fighting Scots won both four-set decisions in the all-time meetings. 

POST-MATCH PIC
 

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk begins a seven-match homestand Thursday, Sept. 22 when it welcomes Framingham State to Larry E. and Michael S. Smith Court for a 7 p.m. tilt.