Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Sept. 5, 2015) - On a day when senior outside hitter
Cassie Palmer (Norwalk, Calif.) became the program leader in service aces for a career, the Molloy College volleyball team lost both of their Saturday matches at the Cal State-L.A. Invitational. The Lions were swept in straight sets by Dixie State before falling in three stanzas to the hometown Eagles to wrap up the tournament.
Dixie State 3, Molloy 0Plagued by poor front row defense, the Lions dropped their third match in a row, as Dixie State won by scores of 25-16, 25-14, and 25-19. The maroon and white kept the contest close in the first set, rallying back from a 12-9 deficit to knot up the score on the strength of two Red Storm errors and a kill by Palmer. Following a split of the next two points, Dixie State would cruise to an eight-point run and take complete command. In the second set, the Red Storm jumped out to an 11-4 edge and poured it on by hitting at a .423 clip to run away with a 2-0 lead in sets.
The third set belonged to Palmer, despite her team falling by the eventual final score of 25-19. Needing just two aces to surpass Class of 2012 graduate
Stefani Koelbel (125) for the most career service aces in program history, Palmer collected four points from the service line in the last frame. Dixie State would dominate once again, hitting at a .552 percentage as Molloy's blocking could not solve the attacks from the Red Storm.
Sophomore outside hitter
Samira Escobar (Fountain Valley, Calif.) and freshman outside
Carly Banks (Camas, Wash.) each collected seven kills to lead Molloy, while Palmer added five kills to go along with her four aces. Junior setter
Ally De Kruyf (Norwalk, Calif.) dished out 20 assists and sophomore libero
Dakota O'Neill (Long Beach, N.Y.) had a team-high seven digs. Leading the Red Storm was sophomore right-side attacker Brette Anderson (Prescott, Ariz.), who had 10 kills on 14 attempts without an error, collecting an impressive .714 hitting percentage. As a team, Dixie State clobbered 39 kills on 75 attempts for a .440 hitting clip.
Cal State-Los Angeles 3, Molloy 0In front of a hometown crowd, the maroon and white were defeated by the Golden Eagles in three consecutive games (25-12, 25-23, 25-14). Molloy's balanced attack was led by Palmer, Banks and junior middle blocker
Grace Cookson (San Diego, Calif.). Each player had five kills to pace the Lions in the contest and De Kruyf added 14 assists, while O'Neill compiled a match-high 14 digs.
Once again, the first set slipped away from the Lions quickly, as Cal State-L.A. built up leads of 5-2, 15-5 and 18-7 on their way to the 25-12 win. The second stanza proved to be a much tighter contest as Molloy fought back from a 20-13 deficit to get to within one point, at 24-23. However, the maroon and white could not capitalize as a hitting error awarded the set to the Golden Eagles. The third set mirrored the first one as Molloy faltered, falling behind 13-5 early. The Lions would again attempt to mount a comeback, getting to within a 15-12 scoreline, but Cal State-L.A. pulled away, taking the next ten of the next twelve points to sweep the maroon and white.
Molloy returns to action this Tuesday (Sept. 8) as they head to Waterbury, Conn. to face Post in a non-conference tilt. First serve is at 7 p.m.
