Box Score ROCHESTER, N.Y. (Oct. 22, 2016) - Freshman setter
Sophia Smith (Georgetown, Texas) set a career high with 49 assists in a five-set contest on Saturday (Oct. 22) as the rookie became Molloy's single-season leader in assists over a campaign. However, the Molloy College women's volleyball team found themselves on the wrong end of a back-and-forth match as Roberts Wesleyan came away with the victory at the Voller Athletic Center. Set scores favored the Redhawks by counts of 24-26, 25-17, 18-25, 25-19 and 15-5.
Molloy (4-20, 1-7 ECC) opened the contest successfully as
Devon Hagerstrom (Bethpage, N.Y.) scored the Lions' first two points on kills, but Roberts Wesleyan (8-11, 5-4 ECC) kept things close in the opening stanza. In fact, the two sides traded points so frequently that neither team held a lead larger than two points throughout the whole first set. The scoreboard read the same number for both teams exactly 22 times in the opening set, with ties all the way up to the final points of the game. At 24-all, Molloy inched forward thanks to a kill by
Danielle Williams (Alba, Texas) and the Lions picked up the victory on a combined block from
Hailey Wehr (Wading River, N.Y.) and Smith to edge Roberts by a 26-24 score.
Smith opened the second set with a kill and a service ace to put Molloy ahead early, and Wehr followed with the same prescription to get the Lions ahead by a 4-1 score. Roberts Wesleyan came back on the strength of the service game from Elisabeth Rivera (Garden Grove, Calif.) as she served her team back to six-all before the teams traded points once again all the way to an 11-11 score on a kill by Courtney Taylor (Spring, Texas). The next two points proved to be critical to the dictation of the second set's story as Rachel Holmes (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) served an ace that was followed up by a solo block from Anjali Thomson (Mission Viejo, Calif.). The Redhawks continued to race further ahead as fifth-year player Kate Steger (Hilton, N.Y.) connected on several kills to push the hosts on the way to a 25-17 second-set victory to knot the match up at one-set apiece.
In the third set, freshman
Shannon Wren (Lynbrook, N.Y.) dictated the pace of play with six kills as she proved to be an offensive wrecking ball for the maroon and white. The Lions opened up an early 10-4 edge with a kill from Wehr and then continued to run behind the aggressive offense from the first-year players. Rookie
Tara Carlin (Kings Park, N.Y.) also contributed with a service ace to put Molloy up by ten points at 18-8 before back-to-back kills from Alexandre Tahauri (Hesperia, Calif.) brought the Redhawks back into the third set briefly. Molloy proved to be too much in the frame, however, as Hagerstrom punctuated things with a kill to give the Lions a 25-18 third-set win.
Roberts Wesleyan commanded the lead in the fourth set after a Molloy attack miscue and a service ace from Holmes. Molloy would climb back into the contest and take a 9-7 lead following an ace by Wren and a combo block from Smith and
Valerie Wills (Laurelton, N.Y.). At 10-10, however, the home side pulled away once again. Taylor connected on a kill that was followed by another Molloy attack error and a service ace from Holmes. The Redhawks would use that build to go on a 15-9 run and take the fourth set by a 25-19 line to set up a winner-take-all fifth frame of play. The two teams traded the first four points of the final game, but Roberts Wesleyan scored the next four points with two kills from Tahauri, a Molloy attack error and a block by Rivera and Kristina Button (Davison, Mich.). The maroon and white rallied back to get within two points at 7-5, but the Redhawks collected a kill from Steger to nab the all-important switch point and take an 8-5 lead. After the teams traded courts, Roberts Wesleyan won the next seven points in a row with Steger hitting consecutive kills to close out the match.
Smith's 49 assists pushed her to a current total of 708 assists for the season as she becomes the only setter in Molloy volleyball history to cross the 700-helper plateau for a single-season. Wren led the offense with a team-high 17 kills while Wehr added 12 and Hagerstrom chipped in 10 of her own. Williams collected seven kills and
Jeanne Reinis (La Mirada, Calif.) had eight successful attacks. On defense, junior libero
Dakota O'Neill (Long Beach, N.Y.) had 20 digs to go along with five assists as Smith notched another double-double for the season with 16 digs total. Defensive specialists
Meaghan Carr (Mineola, N.Y.) and
Jessica Fischetti (Seaford, N.Y.) each added eight digs.
Tahauri had a match-high 19 kills and 18 digs for Roberts Wesleyan to lead five-players over the double-digit kill line. Taylor and Button each had 11 kills while Steger and Thomson posted 10 each. Rivera had an incredible outing with 57 assists and 15 digs; meanwhile, libero Olivia Zureck (Lancaster, N.Y.) posted 16 digs in the back row for the Redhawks.
Molloy returns home on Tuesday (Oct. 25) for a 6 p.m. conference showdown with LIU Post at Quealy Gymnasium.
