Rockville Centre, N.Y. (Nov. 17, 2017) - For the first time in the program's history, Molloy's volleyball team heads to the East Coast Conference Finals following a three-set victory over fourth-seeded University of Bridgeport.

The Lions (24-5) were led by 17 kills from redshirt sophomore Carly Banks. Senior Dakota O'Neill inched closer to the program's all-time dig record, tallying a game-high 25 in the victory. The libero also added three aces from the service line to lead all players while sophomore Sophia Smith led with 39 assists.

Set-By-Set

Molloy 25, Bridgeport 16
Molloy 25, Bridgeport 23
Molloy 25, Bridgeport 23

With the score knotted 10-10 in the first set, the maroon and white rallied to take 14 of the next 17 points to bring the contest to set point, 24-13. The Purple Knights began to mount a comeback, scoring three straight points, but a service error sealed the 25-16 victory for Molloy in the first set. 

The Lions jumped ahead in the second set to a 13-5 lead. Bridgeport, however, put together a run of nine straight points. A kill from Kacey Affrunti put the score at 14-14. After the score was tied twice more, Molloy once again took the contest to set point, 24-20 before Bridgeport brought the game within one, 24-23 before a kill from Affrunti gave the maroon and white a 2-0 advantage.

Molloy exploded to a 8-2 lead before Bridgeport eventually took a one point, 13-12 advantage. The contest see-sawed back and forth until UB took a 23-20 lead. The maroon and white, led by three kills from Banks, took the final five points to earn the 25-23 victory to advance to the program's first appearance in the ECC Finals. 

#1 Molloy will face #3 New York Institute of Technology tomorrow in Quealy Gymnasium at 5:00 p.m.