Volleyball Bested by Misericorida in Straight Sets

NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – Suffolk volleyball began its action at the Hawks Invitational with a 3-0 setback to Misericorida Friday at the Hawks Center. The Rams fell to the Cougars by identical 25-21 scores in all three sets. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 0 | Misericorida 3
RECORDS: Suffolk (13-7) | Misericordia (14-6)

SET ONE RECAP (25-21, MISERICORDIA)

• From a 3-all tie, the second evened score of the day, Suffolk built a 5-3 edge. 
• The Rams remained in front by three, 10-7, when Emily Wheeler etched her first kill of the match in the books. 
• The Cougars charged back with seven straight points to put the blue-and-gold in a 14-10 hole. 
• Suffolk had to work its way back and chipped down the distance to one, 22-21, when Alina Nowakowski jumped for a monster block. 
• Misericordia went on a set-ending 3-0 run. 

SET TWO RECAP (25-21, MISERICORIDA)

• Suffolk fell behind 9-3. 
• The Rams rallied with five points in a row to trim the gap to one, 9-8. 
• The Cougars responded with a 5-0 stretch of their own to restore the six-point distance, 14-8. 
• Back-and-forth runs continued, which allowed Misericorida to maintain its comfortable cushion, 21-15. 
• Out of a Suffolk timeout, the Rams sliced the deficit in half, 21-18, on Harmony Johnson's ace. 
• Points were traded before Kenzley Bell served her second ace of the set to bring the blue-and-gold within two, 23-21. 
• Misericorida went on to score the next two points to take the frame.  

SET THREE RECAP (25-21, MISERICORIDA)

• Things were fairly even from the get go with a pair of lead exchanges and three tied scores. 
• After the see-saw action settled, Suffolk gained the advantage, 9-6. 
• Misericorida put together a 5-0 span to flip the script in its favor, 11-9, and force Scott Blanchard to call a timeout and talk things over with his squad.
• The huddle helped as the Rams managed to level the playing field at 13-all when Morgan Kelsey served an ace. 
• The Cougars did not relinquish the lead as they scored three straight to hold onto the lead, 16-13.
• McKenna Keowen kept the blue-and-gold in it with three kills and attack errors by Misericorida allowed Suffolk to knot things again at 18-18. 
• The score equalized twice more with the last coming at 20-all, before the Cougars outscored the Rams, 5-1 the rest of the way to lock up the win. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Keowen led the charge with an eight-kill, eight-dig, two-dig, one-ace effort. 
• Jasmine James and Nowakowski supplied three kills apiece with the latter adding a pair of blocks. 
• Johnson registered 12 assists, four digs, two kills and one ace. 
• Bell notched 13 digs, three handouts and two aces. 
• Jayla Martinez added four aces, two digs and two assists. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk met Misericorida for the first time in program history. 

POST-MATCH PIC
 

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk has a full day of action at the Hawks Invitational in store tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 8. The Rams will take on the host Hawks at 11:30 a.m., before battling Manhanttanville at 1:30 p.m.