Waltham, Mass. — In its 16th appearance in the NCAA East Regional, the Adelphi University volleyball team fell in a five-set thriller to Holy Family at Bentley University's Dana Center.
This was the second matchup between the teams this season, with the Panthers (24–9) defeating the Tigers in straight sets on Sept. 20 at Wilmington (Del.).
The Brown and Gold saw two leads of five or more in the first set, but Holy Family continued to fight back, narrowing the Adelphi lead down to one each time. A kill from Delaney Kiendra put the Cats up 24-20, but the pesky Tigers once again chipped away, cutting the lead down to one. At 24-23, Adelphi received Holy Family's serve and got the ball to freshman Elena Covic, who won the set for Adelphi.
Frame number two started off as a see-saw battle, with Holy Family eventually gaining a 9-8 margin. From there, the Panthers rattled off five straight points thanks to a kill from Mackenzie Casey and a handful of Tiger attack errors. Adelphi's lead grew to as many as seven when the score turned to 19-12 after a kill and a service ace from AVCA East Region Player of the Year Macarty McQueen, a Holy Family attack error, and a Covic kill. The Tigers still did not go away, getting the second set down to two (24-22) before a Kiendra kill sealed the set for the Panthers.
Set number three saw Holy Family jump out to a 7-3 lead before Adelphi rallied back to take a 12-10 advantage. The flow of play continued to be close, with both teams trading leads and going on runs to try to secure the set. Late in the frame, Adelphi and Holy Family found themselves tied at 18, 21, and 23. When tied at 23, the Tigers capitalized on an Adelphi service error to go up 24-23, then took the set on a kill from Kalia Espenlaub.
The match's momentum had completely flipped when Holy Family took an early lead in the fourth set. Adelphi tied the score at nine after a Covic kill, but the Tigers earned the next point and never gave up the lead, sending the match to a decisive fifth set.
Holy Family tallied the first point of the final frame and continued to pile on, going up 7-3 before the squads switched sides. Down 9-6, the Panthers rallied to tie the score after some heroics from McQueen and Ana Westerich. Unfortunately for the Panthers, Holy Family did not seem fazed, as it continued to win long rallies and take the air out of Adelphi's sails. The Panthers fought until the very end, but their season ended in the NCAA East Regional.
For the match, McQueen recorded 17 kills and tallied two service aces. Covic had 15 kills, with Madeleine Chaapel recording 14. Westerich eclipsed 50 assists for just the second time this season, and Autumn Moored led the team with 22 digs.
