Tuesday night (Oct. 17), the New Haven Chargers volleyball team defeated the Adelphi Panthers, 3-2. The Chargers improve to 14-7 on the year, and remain undefeated at 9-0 in the NE10 conference.

Prior to the game beginning, the Chargers Pep Band counted off and played the Star-Spangled Banner. As they did, the members of New Haven’s volleyball team locked arms. Freshman middle blocker Cam Garden chose to take a knee for the playing.

Garden said, “It was a decision that I took a lot of time to think about. The Black Lives Matter movement is very important to me.”

Garden’s choice comes from the NFL, where players have been kneeling during the national anthem over the last two seasons to raise awareness about racial inequality in the United States.

The first set began, and New Haven started as hot as they usually do, taking a 9-4 lead early on. Carol Martins served five consecutive plays before the Panthers called a timeout. Following the timeout, Adelphi came back to even the score, and ended up taking the first set, 25-23. They would go on to take the second set as well, by the same score.

In the third and facing their first conference loss, the Chargers stepped up. They didn’t dominate, but they played as well as they needed to in order to survive. Adelphi’s last chance was when the score was tied at 18. Attacking errors by the Panthers gave New Haven the ball to serve, and with kills from Martins and Kali Greathead, the Chargers took the third set, 25-20.

Midway through the fourth set, the score was 15-13 in favor of Big Blue. The Chargers asserted their dominance here, and didn’t look back. Serves by Brianna Mirmina led to blocks by Greathead, Alex Bussey, Mallory Nowicki, and Fernanda Da Silva, giving New Haven a 18-13 lead. After the Adelphi timeout, the Chargers took the set again 25-20.

In the fifth, New Haven flexed its’ muscles. Kills by Martins, which looked to eclipse 60 miles per hour, propelled her team to a dominant 15-6 victory. She led the team in kills with 17, followed by Greathead with 16, and setter Kristine Rios with 15. Rios led the Chargers in digs with 21, and was second with 26 assists to Angela Chan, who had 31.

The New Haven Chargers returns to Charger Gymnasium this Saturday, Oct. 21, at 1:00 p.m. to stay undefeated in the NE10 against the Stonehill Skyhawks.