San Marcos, Calif. - On the second day of the Cal State San Marcos Cougar Classic, Adelphi University volleyball took on Saint Martin's University and Saint Cloud State before heading back to the east coast. The Panthers (0-4) lost a hard battle in the opening game, falling in five sets to the Saints (25-21, 21-25, 18-25, 28-26, 7-15) and fell in three straight sets to the Huskies (21-25, 20-25, 19-25).
Adelphi vs. Saint Martin's
The Panthers opened the set with a 12-6 run, bookmarked by big blocks and kills at the net from
Madison Canestrari. The team continued to pull away with the help of back-to-back kills from Leilani Vazquez, inching out to a seven-point lead. The Saints came storming back with three unanswered points, forcing an Adelphi timeout. Using the momentum they add five more points to regain the lead at 18-17. The Panthers managed a 7-2 to run to secure the first set victory.
Tables quickly turned and Saint Martin's won the next two sets, posting a team hitting percentage of .286 in the third with the help of 17 kills to Adelphi's 11. The fourth set managed to reach extra points after being knotted four times after the 23-23 mark. Late blocks courtesy of
Sophia Powless,
Katie Barry and
Karly Bihner helped down the stretch as a Saint miscue concluded the fourth in the Brown and Gold's favor.
Within the fifth set, Saint Martin's reached eight first to force the switch of sides allowing Adelphi just two more points the remainder of the contest. They closed out the set on 7-1 run after several errors from the Panther front line, taking the game.
For the Brown and Gold, rookie
Victoria Cast posted a career-high 16 kills coupled with four block assists. Newcomers Vazquez and
Cara McKenzie both contributed 10 kills apiece, as Vazquez completed the double-double with 12 digs.
Megan Manierski and
Katie Barry both registered double-digit assists with 32 and 13, combining for nine digs. On defense,
Katarina Warburton smashed her career-high from one night earlier with 39 digs in the five-set loss.
Adelphi vs. Saint Cloud State
The Panthers commanded a lead early in the going of the first set, which they managed to hold on to until three straight points from SCSU put them back on top for the rest of the game.
McKenna Clawson's kill sandwiched between two Husky errors helped a three-point run which brought them within four however the lead was too great to overcome. Saint Cloud used a five-point run after being locked at 6-6 in the second set to jump out to a lead, 10-6. Adelphi was then forced to chip away at their lead which they did successfully as a service ace from Bihner and kill from Clawson brought the game back to even.
A 7-2 run in favor of the midwest program however closed out the set to give the Huskies a 2-0 advantage in the game. Unable to string anything strong together the Brown and Gold dropped the final set of the match to move to 0-4 on opening weekend.
For her efforts throughout the weekend tournament, senior Manierski was named to the 2017 CSSM Cougar Classic All-Tournament team.
The volleyball team returns back to the east coast and will play at the Wildcat Regional Invitational, hosted by Wilmington University on Friday, September 8. On day one the Panthers are slated to take on Philadelphia University and Holy Family University.
About Adelphi Athletics:
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009 and in the past eight seasons, has collected 23 regular season conference titles, 25 tournament championships, 33 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup four times (2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017), while winning six NCAA Division II National Championships.
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