On Thursday, Oct. 31, the New Haven volleyball team swept the Queens College Knights, 3-0.
In the first set, the Chargers began with a duo of errors that gave Queens two points out of their four-point lead to start the match. The Chargers were able to counter with kills from outside hitter Grace Juergens and middle blocker Amber Williams, but their lead was cut short as the Knights went on a six point spree. Queens’ Alicia Cervera and Christina Franco each added kills, and the Knights gained an additional three points from New Haven’s errors.
The Chargers were down by five until a service error made by the Knights and kills from middle blocker Katherine Rank and outside hitter Sofia Kamke lessened the deficit and gave the Chargers an opportunity to come back. Cervera and Franco scored the final attacks for the Knights. Rank found a breakthrough for the Chargers and scored a trio of kills. New Haven came out on top of the first set, 25-23.
The Chargers had a strong offensive start in the second set led by Williams with two kills followed by Peyton Mast, Juergens, and Rank each with a kill of their own. The Knights scored their first three points off service and attack errors by the Chargers. Kamke kept the momentum for New Haven alive with a trio of kills which was matched with attacks from the Knights’ Lindsay Osterhoudt and Hathaway.
Nearing the final points of the set, Queens made four errors and Juergens added three kills. The Knights’ Jonaida Donowa and Cervera fought back as they each secured a kill, but the Chargers setter Tori Borton added an attack and Kamke closed out the set with two kills. New Haven won the set, 25-17.
In the final set, Queens came out strong offensively with Franco leading the way with four kills and Donowa and Maya Angelova behind with a kill each. New Haven countered with a spree of their own led by Juergens with two kills, Mast with two service aces, and Rank with one kill. The Chargers and Knights rallied back and forth until Kamke had a kill and New Haven was in the lead for the remainder of the set. Outside hitter Kaylee Weeks scored a service ace, and the Chargers gained an additional two points off attack errors from the Knights.
Libero Payton Malinoski had a three-serve streak and Mast and Juergens each added a kill which gave the Chargers a five point advantage. The Knights’ Despina Boudouris had a kill followed by three points gained from New Haven’s errors. After consistent rallies between the Chargers and Knights, New Haven sealed the match after a service error from Queens and won the set, 25-21.
The Chargers finished the match with 43 kills compared to the Knights’ 37. Both New Haven and Queens tallied 16 errors during the three sets. Borton finished the match with 23 assists and Malinoski led defensively with 21 digs. After the win over Queens, New Haven stands 15-8 overall and 5-1 in conference play. The Chargers will be back in action at 1 p.m. on Nov. 9 to host the Bentley University Falcons for a conference match held at Jeffery P. Hazell Athletics Center. For more information, visit NewHavenChargers.com.
