Garden City, N.Y. -- A combined team hitting percentage helped the Adelphi University volleyball team sweep the Purple Knights of Saint Michael's College, 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-16) on Friday night inside the Center for Recreation and Sport.

The Panthers (16-10, 7-4 NE-10), who posted 41 kills as a squad and hit nearly .300 for the match, were led by a perfect night from Melissa Rigo -- as the graduate student tallied 15 kills and no errors on 33 attempts for a .455 hitting %. Mandy Stanislovaitis also tallied 12 kills, to go along with a team-high 14 digs, while Rebecca Seeba chipped in 10 digs and Megan Manierski kept the offense running with 24 set assists.

After an 8-4 Adelphi lead in the opening set turned into a 12-10 Purple Knight (3-13, 1-10 NE-10) advantage, the visitors never led again as the Brown and Gold scored eight of the next nine points to hold an 18-13 lead. The run for the home team continued, as Rigo, Stanislovaitis, Katherine Ferris and Madison Canestrari all put down kills in a set-ending 7-3 run to score the opening set.

Adelphi's momentum continued to start the second set, as the Panthers scored 12 of the first 15 points to take firm command. From that point, the visitors never got closer than eight points, as the Panthers hit .324 as a team behind 13 kills for the identical 25-16 second set.

The Panthers broke out to a 6-1 lead to start the third, and doubled up the score at 16-8 behind a Katie Barry service ace. Adelphi continued to lead for the duration, and while Saint Michael's scored four straight points to stave off match point, a final Barry kill made it three straight for Adelphi, 25-16. 

The Brown and Gold return to action tomorrow in the final regular-season home match, when they host league-leading Saint Anselm in a 1 pm contest and celebrate Senior Day,

NOTES
- The Panthers will honor Amanda Borges, Mandy Stanislovaitis, Melissa Rigo and Sierra Crook in Saturday's Senior Day ceremony. 
- The Panthers ranked seventh in the first edition of the NCAA East Region poll that was released this week.

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About Adelphi Athletics:
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009 and in the past seven seasons, has collected 20 regular season conference titles, 23 tournament championships, 29 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup three times (2013, 2014, and 2016), while winning five NCAA Division II National Championships.

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