Garden City, N.Y. - Something had to give Tuesday night as the Adelphi University volleyball team took a nine-match winning streak into the the Center for Recreation and Sports against the first-place University of New Haven Chargers, winners of their last 11.

Consider the statement made: With its 17th 3-0 win of the season, Adelphi (20-5, 7-1 NE10) extended its season-long winning streak to 10 matches, completing an unbeaten month of October.

Head coach Danielle MacKnight has now recorded 20 wins for the 11th time in her 17 seasons at the helm of the Panthers, and AU moves into a first-place tie with New Haven and Bentley University as the regular season enters its final two weeks. 

For the first time in nine days, Lilyen McCarthy led the Panther attack, swinging for a match-high 11 kills, with Noelle Alberda right behind her with 10—the junior's fifth straight match with at least 10 kills. Graduate setter Brenna Valsted flirted with a triple-double, too, in pacing the offense, as she added eight digs and five kills to her 34 assists. 

But, maybe more crucially, a trio of Panthers recorded at least 10 digs in victory—and the Brown and Gold defense stood just as strong to limit New Haven (17-8, 7-1 NE10) junior Macy Brown, who currently leads the NE10 in kills per set and overall kills, to a .118 hitting percentage (10K, 6E) in her 34 swings. 

Neither team gained an extended foothold in a tit-for-tat opening set, but with the Chargers ahead 21-20, a furious finish stole Adelphi the early lead. A service error gave Adelphi the sideout, and kicked off six of the last seven points to AU's side. Valsted and McCarthy put the ball to the floor in that time, and on set point, reigning NE10 Rookie of the Week Peyton Mast found herself blocked by Macarty McQueen and Delaney Kiendra to end things.

Sets two and three were kinder to the Panthers early on. AU never trailed at all in the second set, as the score was only tied once at 4-4, and a 7-0 sprint at the start of the third turned a 5-4 Panther lead into a 12-4 cushion. That run, in fact, later expanded to 11-1, and McCarthy swung for four kills in that span.

With three matches left in the regular season, AU next heads north to take on Franklin Pierce University in an NE10 contest on Friday which begins at 7 p.m.