Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University volleyball team picked up its 10th consecutive win, and fifth straight sweep decision, against the Hawks of Saint Anselm College earlier this evening in a 3-0 (25-16, 25-12, 25-11) win.
Led by nine kills each from
Kaitlyn DeStefano,
Shelby Stoner and
Haley Blunt, Adelphi (10-9, 7-0 NE-10) hit .385 as a team throughout three sets. DeStefano recorded a perfect hitting percentage individually, while
Alayna Jackson paced the Panther offense with 18 assists.
Sierra Crook and
Mandy Stanislovaitis paced the defense with 12 and 10 digs, respectively.
Adelphi opened the first game on a 7-3 run and forced the visiting Hawks (8-10, 2-6 NE-10) to use their first timeout of the set before things got settled. Back-to-back kills from DeStefano brought Adelphi's lead to 10-4, and forced to Hawks to expend their second and final timeout of the set early on.
The Hawks claimed seven of the next eight points to close the deficit to 13-11 and would later pull within two points at 18-16. However, Adelphi would not be denied and ran off the last seven points en route to a 25-16 win. DeStefano and Stoner combined for 11 of Adelphi's 15 kills in the first set, where the Panthers as a team hit .343.
The second set was more of same for Adelphi, as the Panthers won seven of the first 10 points to claim an early lead. The Panthers again boasted a hitting percentage over .300, this time hitting .357 en route to a 25-12 win.
The Brown and Gold continued to apply early pressure in the third, as they claimed five straight points to force the Hawks into a timeout at 9-2. The Panthers stretched their lead to double digits at 14-4 behind the Stanislovaitis serve, and didn't look back from their to claim a 25-11 set win, and 3-0 match win.
The Panthers return to action tomorrow, October 18, when they host the Purple Knights of St. Michael's College in a 1 pm NE-10 match.
