Box Score ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Sept. 22, 2015) - The Molloy College volleyball team took the opening set from Bridgeport, but could not win the match as the Purple Knights left Quealy Gymnasium with a 3-1 victory on Tuesday evening. Set scores favored the visitors 19-25, 25-20, 25-13 and 25-14.
Molloy (2-11, 0-1 ECC) jumped out to an early 2-1 lead in the opening game thanks to an attack error on Bridgeport outside hitter Sarah Rosa (Itajuba, Brazil) and a service ace from sophomore
Samira Escobar (Fountain Valley, Calif.). The Lions would not be able to pull away from their opponents that easily, however, as Bridgeport (4-6, 1-0 ECC) fought point for point with the maroon and white in front of the home crowd. The maroon and white grabbed a 13-9 lead thanks to a kill by freshman outside hitter
Carly Banks (Camas, Wash.), who would combine with junior middle blocker
Grace Cookson (Alpine, Calif.) on a block of Rosa to bring the Lions to a four-point lead. Molloy would open up a 17-13 advantage before the Purple Knights struck for a 5-0 mini-spurt thanks to junior Katarina Krsostonic (Kikinda, Serbia). The outside hitter brought her team within three thanks to a kill, then served four straight points with Rosa and Jade Zhao (Huhhot, China) each converting attacks and Escobar having two attack errors for the Lions. Finally, freshman outside hitter
Jeanne Reinis (Santa Fe Springs, Calif.) stopped the run with a kill which was followed up by good swings and kills from Banks, senior
Cassie Palmer (Norwalk, Calif.) and junior
Spencer Williams (Los Angeles, Calif.). Palmer and Williams would nail down two more kills in the final five points as Bridgeport struggled to convert on attack attempts in giving the first set to Molloy by a 25-19 margin.
The home side held leads of 3-1, 6-3 and 9-6 in the second set but the Purple Knights would take control thanks to separate 4-0 runs in the stanza. First, after an attack error on Cookson, Rosa launched two service aces with a kill by Krsostonic sandwiched in between to give Bridgeport a 10-9 lead. Then after handing Molloy an 11-10 lead on consecutive unforced errors, Krsostonic and freshman Ellie Rich (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) converted on back-to-back kills before middle blocker Frida Randen (Sodertalje, Sweden) nailed two straight service aces to push Bridgeport's lead to a 14-11 score. Molloy attempted to mount a comeback, getting as close as 19-17 on a combined block by Palmer and Cookson, but the Purple Knights won six of the last nine points in the set to level the match at a game apiece. Two kills by Krsostonic and four Lions errors ran the score in favor of the visitors, 25-20.
In the third set, Molloy fought with Bridgeport through the first nine points as a Palmer kill cut an early deficit to one at 5-4. The Purple Knights scored three straight points thanks to a Randen service ace, a kill by Krsostonic and an attack error on the maroon and white. Bridgeport ran out to a 15-9 lead but another Palmer kill coupled with a service ace from junior setter
Ally De Kruyf (Norwalk, Calif.) made the Purple Knights' lead shrink to just four. However, the Lions would find themselves on the wrong end of a 10-2 run as the Purple Knights closed out the set with six kills and a service ace, along with three attack errors from the home side. Bridgeport pummeled the ball in the front row, converting ten attacks for kills on 21 attempts without error for a .476 hitting percentage.
The momentum clearly had shifted to the visitors' side, and in the fourth set it was Bridgeport pouring it on with an early 7-0 run. Two unforced errors, two blocks, kills by Rosa and Zhao and a service ace from Krsostonic pushed the Purple Knights out to the advantage. Molloy would attempt to answer back by scoring five of the next six points to draw within three, but the game of runs and the odds would continue to be ever in the favor of Bridgeport. Eight more points for the Purple Knights would come in the next ten plays, with Randen, Rich, Zhao and junior Sara Cruz (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) combining for four kills in that span. After consecutive kills by Reinis and Escobar gave Molloy a bit of hope at 16-9, the Purple Knights commenced their third and final attack to down seven points in a row and eight of the next nine to get to match point. Then after a brief 4-0 spurt by Molloy, Rosa finished things off with a kill in the back left corner of the Molloy side to end the contest.
Molloy was led by Palmer's nine kills and eight digs on the evening, while Reinis added seven kills of her own. Banks and Williams each had six kills, while the junior also turned in three service aces and three digs. Escobar had four kills on the night but added a team-high 20 digs, while sophomore libero
Dakota O'Neill (Long Beach, N.Y.) added 11 digs and freshman defensive specialist
Meghan Carr (Mineola, N.Y.) accumulated three digs in the match. De Kruyf had 14 assists for the Lions and junior setter
Alley Stefanovski (North Chili, N.Y.) led her team with 15 helpers.
Krsostonic paced Bridgeport to victory with an impressive stat line: 19 kills, 10 digs, three service aces and a .436 hitting percentage. Zhao bettered the numbers in terms of hitting percentage, smacking nine kills in 13 attempts for a .538 clip on the front row. Libero Martina Santia (Sezze, Italy) collected 14 digs while Rich dished out a game-high 32 assists for the Purple Knights.
Head Coach
Billy Corrao and the Molloy College volleyball team will continue conference play on Thursday (Sept. 24) by welcoming LIU Post into Quealy Gymnasium at 6 p.m. The most recent meeting between the two schools was on Oct. 23, 2014 with the Pioneers outlasting Molloy in a five-set thriller in Rockville Centre. You can follow along with the contest as it happens live on www.MolloyLions.com, as live stats and a video broadcast will be available. You can also view the broadcasts again on the Molloy Athletics YouTube channel.
