Garden City, N.Y. - Fueled by consistent hitting and strong defense, the Adelphi University volleyball team picked up it's 10th win of the season on Thursday evening, defeating Felician University in straight sets.
The Panther offense put up an impressive. .517 team hitting percentage in the opening set but only managed a five-point margin to take a lead in the match. The Golden Eagles (5-9) were trailing by two in the early going, but the home team rattled off a seven-point run that put them in the lead for good.
Adelphi quickly doubled their opponents score in the second set - this time courtesy of a
Madeleine Chaapel kill to make it 10-5. Seven points later, the hosts used a 6-1 run to jump ahead by 10. Taking advantage of Felician attack errors,
Tessa LaFrenier and
Melana Bigelow put together a service ace and kill, respectively, to close out the frame.
In a sever turn of events, Adelphi found themselves trailing by seven in the third set, before
Macarty McQueen found the floor to break the silence. Chipping away at their deficit, the Panthers used a 6-2 run to earn their first lead of the third, at 12-11. Another
Ana Carolina Westerich to McQueen connection sparked another six-point run, featuring kills only from McQueen and
Elena Covic.
With the lead in tow, the Brown and Gold closed out the set and match, securing a 25-15 victory. The Golden Eagles were plagued with miscues that saw them hit negative in both the second and third sets, while the Panther offense remained consistent and finished with a .360 hitting percentage as a team for the match.
Westerich finished with 37 assists and McQueen once again led the attack with 14 kills. Chaapel finished with eight kills, committing just two errors all contest.
Adelphi is back in action this weekend when they head to Assumption University for their Northeast 10 Conference opener on Saturday, Oct. 4. In addition to the matchup with the Greyhounds, the Cats will take on St. Thomas Aquinas College in a double feature, before heading back to Garden City. Games times are set for 11:00 p.m. and 1:30 p.m., respectively.
