Nov. 14, 2009

Box Score

Lowell, MA - Adelphi University topped Bentley University, 3-2, in this afternoon's Northeast-10 Conference semi-finals to advance to tonight's championship round. The Panthers (27-8) will take on #4 UMass-Lowell for the title tonight at 7:00 p.m. Watch all the action live on Northeast10.tv.

Bentley, the tournament's third seed, jumped on top with a 25-16 first set win, but the second seeded Panthers answered back in the second with a strong, 25-14 victory. The Falcons bounced back with a 25-19 win in the third and were three points away from a finals appearance before Adelphi used a late game charge to collect a 26-24 win in the fourth.

It appeared that Adelphi would miss out on the championship match after consecutive kills by Bentley, but the Panthers reeled off the next four points to take the lead, 23-22. However, the Falcons twice tied the score, at 23-all and at 24, before a Bentley attack error put Adelphi up one, and a shared block by Hilary Pavels and Kelsey Hacket finished the set.  

Two Hackett kills opened the fifth set, and Bentley was never able to tie together consecutive points in the finale, giving Adelphi a 15-9 win in the final set and sending Adelphi to it's first Northeast-10 Championship game in their first season in the conference.

Hilary Pavels led the Panthers with 20 kills and 22 digs in the five-game thriller. Chelsea Overholt and Kelsey Hackett contributed 18 and 15 kills, respectively. Heather Mau had 53 assists and 10 digs for the double-double, while Amy Williams led all players with 34 digs.