Box Score ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Oct. 16, 2015) - The Molloy College women's volleyball team put forth a valiant effort on Thursday evening at Quealy Gymnasium, but the Lions could not claim a victory as NYIT left Rockville Centre with a four-set win. Game scores favored the Bears 22-25, 25-23, 26-24 and 25-21.
The first set proved to be a war of attrition as both sides combined to commit 23 errors in the 47 points won over the opening stanza. Molloy (4-15, 2-6 ECC) scored four of its first six points thanks to unforced errors by the Bears, while freshman outside hitter
Jeanne Reinis (Santa Fe Springs, Calif.) collected her first kill of the match and junior middle hitter
Spencer Williams (Los Angeles, Calif.) launched a service ace as the Lions took a 6-4 lead. After NYIT (14-4, 4-3 ECC) came back to tie up the match at 7 following a kill by sophomore outside hitter Emily Mankowski (Naperville, Ill.), neither side could jump out to a large enough lead. The opening set would feature a bevy of level scores as both teams split the following 20 points with the score tied at 17-all. Molloy finally edged forward scoring three straight points on kills by Reinis and fellow freshman
Carly Banks (Camas, Wash.) as well as a service ace from junior setter
Ally De Kruyf (Norwalk, Calif.). The Lions would go on to take the set thanks to three kills by senior outside hitter
Cassie Palmer (Norwalk, Calif.), as well as successful attacks by Reinis and Williams.
The second set proved to be another gritty, close contest as the first 12 points were split evenly between the two teams. Senior middle blocker Kate Brock (River Edge, N.J.) struck for consecutive kills to give NYIT an 8-6 lead, an advantage that would be extended to 15-10 following another kill by Brock. Molloy chipped away at the deficit on three straight attack errors from the Bears, but Brock again stopped the rally with a kill to put her team up 16-13. The visitors continued to give the game away as a 17-14 lead quickly became an 18-18 tie following four unforced errors until sophomore setter Allison Fowler (Centennial, Colo.) converted a kill to get NYIT back up 19-18. Back came the Lions with three straight points on a kill by Williams, a service ace from
Samira Escobar (Fountain Valley, Calif.) and an attack error on the Bears. NYIT came back to tie it at 22 when a Reinis kill put the Lions two points away from a two-sets-to-none lead in Rockville Centre. It was not to be, though, as following a solo block by Tina Stefanovic (Cacak, Serbia), Brock nailed down the set-winning kill to level the match at one set apiece.
NYIT went to the hot hand in the third game as Brock opened the scoring with another kill, but Reinis answered with one of her own to tie the score up for the maroon and white. Seven more level scores would ensue until Molloy scored three straight points to take a 13-10 lead, thanks to a solo block by Williams, a kill by Escobar and a combined block by the two. The Lions increased their lead to 16-11 after Reinis collected two more kills and Brock committed an attacking error, and the lead would balloon to 21-17 as Escobar and Williams combined to stuff junior middle hitter Rachel Guida (Huntington, N.Y.) at the net on an attack. NYIT would win the next three points to make it a 21-20 margin on three straight kills by Karolina Moderova (Zalesie, Slovakia), but Brock and Moderova would then mishit attacks to put Molloy up 23-20. Brock would commit another attack error after a kill to put the Lions on set point at 24-21. With Williams serving for the match, Moderova converted an attack to keep her side in the game and then went back to serve. Following an attack error by Molloy and kills from Stefanovic and Mankowski, Moderova launched a stunning service ace that silenced the home crowd and gave the Bears a 26-24 win in the third set to put NYIT improbably up by a set.
The fourth act of this epic battle did not start off like the others as NYIT opened with a 3-0 lead on two Molloy errors and a Moderova kill. The Bears opened an 8-3 edge before committing three unforced mistakes to bring Molloy back to within two points until Guida blocked an attack by junior middle hitter
Grace Cookson (San Diego, Calif.). While Molloy would get back to within two on a kill by Escobar, the visitors took six of the next seven points to race ahead to a 15-8 margin. Again, however, the Bears could not put the game away as the home side showed great fight to rally back to an 18-15 edficit following two kills by Reinis, a Palmer kill, a service ace from
Alley Stefanovski (North Chili, N.Y.) and three unforced mishaps. Following a timeout, NYIT took back control of the set by collecting a kill from Guida and a combined block from the junior middle blocker and Mankowski on the outside. The Bears took a 24-18 lead thanks to another Guida kill, but Molloy attempted a comeback following a Fowler attack error. Williams struck for a kill and then teamed with Palmer on a block of Brock to bring the Lions to within three at 24-21. Ultimately, Moderova sealed the fate of Molloy with a match-winning kill as NYIT won the fourth game by a 25-21 score.
Reinis led the Lions with a career-high 13 kills on a .278 hiting percentage, while Palmer added nine kills and nine digs. Williams had a five-kill performance, while also totaling four blocks and five digs in the effort. De Kruyf dished out a team-high 22 assists, Stefanovski added 11 helpers and 15 digs and sophomore libero
Dakota O'Neill (Long Beach, N.Y.) had 16 digs and four assists. Escobar led the team with 21 digs in the losing effort. NYIT had four players go over the ten-kill plateau in the match led by Brock's 14. Moderova had 13 kills and 10 digs, Mankowski totaled 12 kills and Guida added 11. Fowler had a game-best 44 assists and also collected 12 digs, and the Bears had great defense as well from freshman defensive specialist Portia McIntosh (Aurora, Colo.) (16 digs) and senior libero Becky Syers (East Meadow, N.Y.) (19 digs).
The Molloy College volleyball team will travel to Connecticut on Tuesday (Oct. 20) for a conference tilt against Bridgeport at 7 p.m.
