Box Score ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Nov. 3, 2015) - After one of the most unforgettable Senior Day ceremonies in the history of Molloy College athletics, the Lions volleyball team played an ultra-competitive match against Dowling College Tuesday night at Quealy Gymnasium. However, Dowling would walk out of Rockville Centre the victors in a five-set thriller with set scores favoring the Golden Lions by 25-15, 22-25, 25-27, 25-21 and 15-10.
Dowling (22-5, 11-2 ECC) opened the first set on an absolute tear, jumping out to a 9-4 edge before Molloy (6-20, 4-9 ECC) rallied back to make the deficit smaller. A solo block by junior middle blocker
Grace Cookson (San Diego, Calif.) put the Lions within three at 15-12 and a combined block by Cookson and senior outside hitter
Cassie Palmer (Norwalk, Calif.) brought the maroon and white to within a 17-14 margin. Palmer struck for a kill off the block of Dragana Jelovac (Tivat, Montenegro) to cut the Golden Lions' advantage to two before the visitors ran off eight unanswered points to take the opening set by a 25-15 score.
A closer second stanza featured the teams splitting the first 20 points evenly after a service ace from Kayla Dillman (Rochester, N.Y.) had Dowling level with Molloy at 10-all. The home side struck for three consecutive kills from freshman
Carly Banks (Camas, Wash.), Cookson and Palmer in that order to take a 13-10 lead and an advantage that the Lions would not relinquish. Dowling would get as close as one point on two separate occasions, the first of which coming from a kill by Weronika Wiezik (Szczyrk, Poland) for an 18-17 Golden Lions deficit. A solo block by
Spencer Williams (Los Angeles, Calif.) upped Molloy's lead to two before a kill from Mikalah Hughes (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) cut the lead back to one. Williams struck for a kill to get Molloy to 20 points in the game, and two attack errors put the set out of reach for Dowling. A kill by Palmer off an assist from sophomore libero
Dakota O'Neill (Long Beach, N.Y.) closed out the set and leveled the match at one-all.
Resiliency was the name of the game for the Lions in the third set as Dowling jumped out to a 3-0 lead on kills by Hughes and Wiezik and a Molloy attack error. The home side would claw back into the frame, tying it up at 15 on a service ace from freshman
Jeanne Reinis (Santa Fe Springs, Calif.). It was Dowling that sprang back ahead and looked in control of the third set, as a kill by Hughes put the Golden Lions in front by a 23-19 margin. But after Reinis struck for two kills and Wiezik committed two attack errors, junior setter
Ally De Kruyf (Norwalk, Calif.) launched a service ace to give Molloy a set point and a chance at a 2-1 sets lead. Hughes leveled the match at 24 with a kill before Williams gave Molloy the lead back again on a solo block. Following a service error by Molloy to make the score tied at 25, Williams and Palmer stuffed a Dowling attack and then the senior thundered a kill to give Molloy a two sets-to-one lead.
The good feelings, unfortunately, would not last as the Golden Lions raced to an early 5-0 lead in the fourth frame and never looked back despite Molloy cutting the lead to 5-3 at one point. Dowling took the fourth set on a Wiezik kill to set up a winner-take-all final act of a dramatic Tuesday evening in Rockville Centre. In the fifth set, the teams traded the first four points before unforced errors bit Molloy and the Lions failed to recover. Falling behind 5-2, Williams collected a solo block to cut the lead down to two until kills by Hughes and Jessica Kalbfleisch (Ridge, N.Y.) put Dowling ahead 7-3. The Golden Lions got the crucial switch point at 8-4, and later Wiezik went back-to-back on successful attacks to give Dowling a 12-4 lead. The maroon and white continued to fight as Dowling could not close it out, committing three unforced errors to let Molloy back into a 13-8 fifth frame until Wiezik again thundered home a kill. Molloy, down to match point, staved off two match-winning rallies before Kataryzna Klocek (Poland) ended things with a kill and provided Dowling with the victory.
Dowling won despite only five of its players having any kills in the match. But those five attackers provided double-digit kill totals led by Wiezik's 18. Hughes chipped in with 13 kills, Jelovac and Kalbfleisch had 11 for the Golden Lions and Klocek added 10 kills. Dillman dished out 49 assist to go along with stellar defense from the Golden Lions on the back line. Freshman libero Taylor Takeda (Mililani, Hawaii) had 39 digs while seniors Nicole Parkas (Dix Hills, N.Y.) and Kayla Morgan (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) added 21 and 13 digs, respectively.
Banks and Reinis led Molloy with 15 kills apiece, while Palmer added 10. Williams had nine kills, four solo blocks and five block assists in a stellar match and Cookson chipped in with eight kills out of the middle, while De Kruyf continued to impress with 48 assists in the match. On defense, O'Neill had 38 digs to set a new career high for the sophomore. Banks had 18 digs, junior
Alley Stefanovski (North Chili, N.Y.) had 19 digs and freshman defensive specialist
Meaghan Carr (Mineola, N.Y.) added nine digs.
Prior to the match, Molloy honored its two seniors---Palmer and
Danielle Williams (Alba, Texas). To the total surprise of Palmer, however, she was on the receiving end of a marriage proposal as her now-fiancee flew in from California to pop the question before the match! With friends and family and Molloy volleyball alums in attendance, the senior said "Yes" and the moment will be sure to live on forever as an amazing evening for all who attended. You can view the full game with an audio/video broadcast including Senior Day ceremonies by clicking
here to visit the Molloy Lions YouTube channel. (Fast forward to around the 15-minute mark of the video to view the Senior Day festivities.
The Molloy College volleyball team will head on the road for the final three games of the season, beginning with a trip to Dobbs Ferry to face Mercy on Thursday (Nov. 5).
