Rockville Centre, N.Y. - The volleyball team opened East Coast Conference play with a 3-0 victory over D'Youville College. The maroon and white improved to 5-6 on the season (1-0 ECC) with the victory while the Saints fell to 1-8 (0-1 ECC) in the loss. 

Molloy 25, D'Youville 16
Molloy 25, D'Youville 16
Molloy 25, D'Youville 22

How it Happened

• The Lions opened the contest with a 7-2 lead, featuring three-straight kills from senior Graciela Cruz. 
• The Saints would come within three, 8-5, but Molloy kept its foot on the gas and eventually jumped out to a 20-10 lead, including four consecutive kills from junior Kathleen Doherty.
• Kills down the stretch from sophomore Colleen Moulder, freshman Rebecca Meier, and sophomore Chye Davis gave the home team a 1-0 lead.
• Two service aces from graduate student Kassie Akouri Tejedor helped the maroon and white open the second set on a 4-0 run. D'Youville, however, responded with a streak of five points to take the program's first lead of the afternoon. 
• Six of the next seven points fell in favor of the Lions, who took a 10-6 advantage. Three kills from Davis helped Molloy extend its lead to as much as 18-9. 
• The Lions' final seven points of the set all came via kills from freshmen Madison Wakely and Alex Brown as well as two from Davis. 
• Two kills from Cruz and an ace from senior Nicole Wagner gave Molloy a 5-2 lead in the final set. 
• The Saints chipped away at Molloy, eventually tying the score 12-12, and then again, 17-17.
• Two service aces from graduate student Emily Meyer helped a streak of four-straight points for the Lions to take a 21-17 advantage. 
• After trailing 23-18, the visitors strung together a four-point streak of its own to come within one, 23-22. 
• Molloy scored the final two points of the set to earn the 3-0 victory. 

Top Performances

• Brown and Cruz topped the Molloy offense with 11 kills each, with Brown attacking at an impressive .429 clip, making only two errors on the afternoon. The freshman also added four digs, two assists, and one block for 11.5 points.
• Doherty led the defensive efforts with 19 digs while just missing a double-double with nine kills.
• Akouri Tejedor put up 40 assists to go with 13 digs and two aces. 
• Wagner tallied 14 digs while Moulder put up five blocks. 

Up Next
Molloy returns to Quealy Gymnasium tomorrow for matches against both Daemen College (11:00 a.m.) and Southern Connecticut State University (3:00 p.m.).