Garden City, NY - After dropping the opening set, the Adelphi University women's volleyball team won three straight against The College of Saint Rose to earn tonight's Northeast-10 Conference Championship Quarterfinal 3-1 (23-25, 25-15, 25-15, 25-17).
Seniors
Haley Blunt and
Kaitlyn DeStefano led the attack for the Panthers (14-14) with 17 and 16 kills respectively. Blunt also added 15 digs while DeStefano was on eight blocks behind one solo and seven assisted. Junior
Shelby Stoner added 13 kills while freshman
Megan Manierski passed out 37 assists.
After the Panthers led for most of the first set, Saint Rose rallied to win the game 25-23 by scoring the final four points. Devic led the Golden Knights with five kills while senior
Haley Blunt posted seven kills for the Panthers and DeStefano added five. As a team, the Brown and Gold recorded 20 kills in the game despite the setback.
The Golden Knights continued momentum into the second set by creating a 9-4 advantage to force a timeout by Adelphi. The timeout proved effective as the Browna and Gold rallied to even the set at 11 and take the lead on the next point at 12-11. The Panthers continued the rally all the way to a 25-15 second set victory, thanks to five blocks to force a -.056 hitting percentage from Saint Rose. DeStefano assisted on four blocks while also sharing the team-high of three kills with Stoner.
Originally in a 3-0 hole, the Panthers climbed back to take the lead at 9-8 in the third set on a DeStefano kill followed by back-to-back kills from Blunt and another from DeStefano that lead to a Saint Rose timeout at 12-8. Similar to the second game, Adelphi ran its run to a 25-15 win. In game three, the Brown and Gold was benefitted by a .317 hitting percentage as DeStefano and Stoner combined for 11 of the team's 17 kills.
Adelphi looked to build a lead early in the fourth set by going up 11-5 that led to a timeout followed by a quick 4-1 run to go up 15-6. The Panthers carried forth to win the set 25-17 and close out the match at 3-1.
With the victory, the Panthers move onto the semifinal round of the NE-10 Championships to face New Haven this Friday at in West Haven, CT. First serve is scheduled for 5:00 pm followed by Bentley and Stonehill at 7:30 pm. The two winners move on to Saturday's Championship Final at 5:00 pm.
