Garden City, N.Y. - For the first time in 16 days, the Adelphi University volleyball team took the floor in the Center for Recreation and Sports on Friday night, and its winning ways continued. The Panthers scored their eighth straight win with a 3-0 sweep of the visiting Purple Knights of Saint Michael's College. 

Though the Panthers (18-5, 5-1 NE10) nearly dropped a set against Saint Michael's (5-9, 3-4 NE10) for the first time since 2015, AU sandwiched a tight second set around two much more straightforward ones. The 'Cats are now 16-0 all-time against the Purple Knights dating back to the two teams' first meeting in 2004. 

AU won eight of the match's first 10 points, and 11 of 13 from the subsequent score of 10-5, in a dominant first-set showing in which the Brown and Gold hit eight of its 13 aces for the match. A torrid early start also helped Adelphi's cause in the third, though Saint Michael's pulled to within four before AU closed things out. The Panthers previously won 11 of the first 15 points in the final set, and six of seven after Danielle Macknight called a timeout at 11-8.

The outlier was the second set, where Saint Michael's had its best offensive showing for the match and led by a slim two at 21-19. But six kills in seven AU points, including three from Lilyen McCarthy, helped the Panthers steal the set from behind. 

For the second straight match, Noelle Alberda led the Panthers offensively with 10 kills—the only 'Cat to hit double figures. However, both Delaney Kiendra and McCarthy were eye-poppingly efficient in their efforts: Kiendra swung for eight kills in 12 attempts, and McCarthy landed seven in 11 swings.

Also for AU in victory, Kambel Fiser dished off 34 assists and Jamie Yonker tallied 14 digs, while Samantha Meehan did a little of everything to the tune of five kills, six digs and an ace. 

The Panthers will be back in the CRS in less than 18 hours time, as Saint Anselm College visits Garden City on Saturday for a 1 p.m. Northeast-10 Conference match.