CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Stevens Institute of Technology women’s volleyball team won six sets without dropping any against the host Red Dragons and Bard Saturday during the final day of the Cortland Quad.
Stevens (14-8, 3-1 MACF) downed Cortland in its first match of the day (25-21, 25-20, 25-22) before an even more dominant showing against the Raptors (25-9, 25-13, 25-5).
HOW IT HAPPENED (Cortland)
Stevens led 3-0, trailed 5-3, then led 7-5 early in the first set. After trading the majority of the next 10 points back and forth, the series of runs resumed, with Cortland rallying from 13-9 down to square things at 13, Stevens answering with the next seven, and Cortland answering with the next five, leaving Stevens ahead 20-18. Another three straight from the Ducks put them on the brink of the set, before kills from Vivian Lisboa and Alyssa O’Neal closed it out. O’Neal had six kills in the frame, Eva Tarolli had two.
The Ducks took a 5-2 lead in the second set, then maintained at least a two-point cushion the rest of the set. The Red Dragons closed to within 6-4, then within three points on a trifecta of occasions, but the Ducks hit .412 during the set, putting away 16 kills on 34 swings with just two errors, with Lisboa, O’Neal, Ella Boland, and Sarah Bolduc all notching four apiece.
After leading the majority of the first two sets, Stevens went into rally mode in the third after conceding the first four points and falling behind 10-5. They came all the way back to lead 13-12, but Cortland answered with the next four. Still trailing 22-18, the Ducks embarked on a remarkable stretch to close the sweep, taking the final seven points, capped by Tarolli’s fourth kill in a stretch of six points and her fifth kill of the frame. O’Neal added two kills during the set, while Bolduc and Mallory Eder each added two.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE (Cortland)
– Lisboa and Tarolli finished with a combined 13 kills on 23 swings with just two errors, each hitting over .460 for the match
– O’Neal had a team-high 14 kills
– Molly Harris just missed a double-double with 36 assists and eight digs
HOW IT HAPPENED (Bard)
The Ducks made an early statement, taking a 4-0 lead, pushing it to 12-6, then 17-8, before closing out the frame with eight straight points. O’Neal (four) and Lisboa (three) were the kills leaders for Stevens early on.
The second set saw some early back and forth, with Bard taking an early 2-0 lead and closing to within a point at 6-5, but the Ducks again proved too much, opening 12-6 and 17-8 advantages for the second straight sets. The Raptors drew no closer than eight points the rest of the way. O’Neal had a set-high four kills, Bolduc and Boland added three each, and Kileen McNeill added two.
The Ducks closed out the match with their most dominating single set of the day. Stevens took the first seven points, 11 of the first 12, and 17 of the first 20, then closed the sweep with eight of the final nine points. The Ducks hit a whopping .692 for the frame, notching nine errorless kills without a single attack error – Ava Stewart put down three of them, O’Neal added another two.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE (Bard)
– The Ducks hit a season-best .491 for the match, 91 percentage points higher than their previous top mark (.400 against Hunter, October 4)
– Stevens also held Bard to a -.125 hitting percentage, a season-low for any Ducks opponent
– O’Neal hit .600 with a match-high 10 kills, Bolduc had five kills and hit .714
UP NEXT
Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom play resumes Wednesday, October 22 at 7PM at Canavan Arena against King’s.
#AllRise
