Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University volleyball team played host to cross island rival LIU-Post in an important non-conference regional contest on Tuesday, September 24 in the Center for Recreation and Sports. The Panthers found themselves in a 2-1 hole after three games, but rallied, winning the final two sets to collect a 3-2 victory. With the win Adelphi improves to 5-6 overall, while LIU-Post falls to 8-3.

Kaitlyn DeStefano led all players with 16 kills and was followed by three other Panthers in double figures, as Haley Blunt had 11 and both Amanda Borges and Shelby Stoner both had 10. Defensively, Sierra Crook amassed a game-high 21 digs and Blunt chipped in 13, while Bryson had 11 to go along with 33 set assists.

The Panthers moved out to a 5-1 lead in the first set, but the Pioneers rallied to knot the action at 11 on a Makamae Namahoe kill. However, a 3-0 Adelphi spurt gave the Brown and Gold a 14-11 lead that would become a 25-18 win. The second set saw four ties in the first 16 points, but another spurt, this time a by the Pioneers, put Adelphi in a four point hole, 12-8. Unfortunately, the Panthers were unable to dig themselves out, falling 25-21, running out of steam after a valiant effort knotting the action at 21 on a Blunt kill.

The third set was a mirror image of the second, however the closest that Adelphi would get late in the game was 19-18 on a LIU-Post attack error. A 6-3 closing run would secure the set in favor of the Pioneers. The tide turned in the fourth set as Adelphi finally broke through, moving out to a 7-3 lead early on. The margin would grow to eight on a LIU-Post miscue, 17-9 and the Panthers would force a fifth game with a DeStefano kill, 25-17.

The Brown and Gold would cruise to a win in the fifth game, sprinting out to a 11-1 lead on the strength of the service game of Borges and Alayna Jackson. LIU-Post would come alive, scoring five of the final nine points, but the Panthers would pull out the five set win with a 15-6 game five triumph.

Coach's Comments
"The girls showed a lot of heart and determination tonight and I think it shows that we learned a lot over the weekend," stated head coach Danielle MacKnight. "It feels good to dig ourselves out of a hole to beat a quality regional opponent and games like this prepare us for a tough Northeast-10 Conference schedule." 

Up Next
The Panthers return to action on Saturday, September 28 when they travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for contests against Philadelphia University and Nyack.