Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Volleyball team will open a five match week on Thursday night with a road non-conference match at SUNY Delhi. The Knights will return to league play on Saturday at Purchase and will close the home schedule on Sunday with conference contests against Maritime and St. Joseph's-L.I.
At A Glance: The Knights will play their first match since a 3-0 win at Staten Island on October 5 when they head to Delhi Thursday night with a 9-13 overall record. Mount Saint Mary has won seven of its last eight outings overall heading into Thursday's tilt with the Broncos.
In the Mount's 3-0 sweep at Staten Island, senior
Rachel Sabatini (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) continued her strong play with 17 kills, while hitting a blistering .517. She completed a double-double with a team-high 10 digs and added a pair of service aces.
Morgan Burke (Ringwood, N.J.),
Ally Klesin (Glendale, N.Y.) and
Megan Williams (Glenmont, N.Y.) all registered five kills in the win, with Williams adding three total blocks and Klesin lifting six digs. Sophomore
Kim Gries (Hicksville, N.Y.) paced the Knights with 16 assists and three of the team's 11 service aces.
Through 22 matches in 2016, Sabatini leads three players with better than 100 kills with a team-high 183 winners. Classmate
Angelia Cirigliano (Newburgh, N.Y.) has 133 kills and trails Sabatini by one for the team lead in aces with 27 on the season. Williams has put away 127 kills and is second on the team with 37 total blocks.
Freshman
Madelyn Barberan (Fishkill, N.Y.) is averaging just under four digs per set, lifting 267 on the season and senior
Kristen Maddock (Medford, N.Y.) holds the team lead with 395 assists. Burke is tops on the squad in blocking with 50 on the season.
Breaking Down The Broncos: Delhi enters Thursday's tilt at 8-15 overall and has won three of its last four matches. The Broncos topped Penn State Hazelton in four sets in their last outing with Julia Bretts leading the way with 17 kills. Kristen Maslanka finished off a double-double with 11 kills and 19 digs, while Alyssa Boyles handed out 34 assists.
Bretts is the team leader in both kills (145) and total blocks (33) for the Broncos, while Boyles has handed out 261 assists, good for just under six helpers per set. Sabra Wilson is Delhi's leader in service aces with 43 and Mikayla Catherman sits atop the team leaderboard in digs with 306, averaging 4.08 per set.
Playing Purchase: The Mount will return to league play at Purchase on Saturday, with the Panthers entering the day at 1-16 overall on the season and 1-4 in Skyline Conference play. Purchase is coming off of its first win of the season, a 3-0 sweep of Yeshiva, in which Kaitlyn Pillig led the offensive attack with seven kills.
Pillig paces Purchase in three major statistical categories heading into the weekend, sitting atop the team leaderboard in kills (61), assists (62) and digs (92). Maura Gribbens is the team leader in service aces with 18, while Daja Medina is tops on the squad in blocks with four.
Focusing On Farmingdale State: The Knights will also tussle with Farmingdale State on Saturday, with the Rams entering a Friday non-conference match against John Jay at 10-6 and Saturday's tilt with the Knights at 5-1 in conference play. The Rams have won their last four matches and are coming off a sweep of William Paterson on Tuesday. Barbara Wright and Julia Hande combined for 27 of the team's 50 kills in the match, with Hande adding five blocks.
Hande enters Friday's match with the Bloodhounds as the team leader in kills with 135, while Laurenanne Strezenec paces the team in assists with 271 (4.84 per set) and service aces with 55. Stephanie Etersque leads the way with 167 digs (3.15 per set) and Maia Cadle-Hinton controls the blocking game with a team-high 47 total blocks.
Managing Maritime: The Knights will return home on Sunday and will open a two match day against Maritime, who enters the weekend at 10-11 overall and 3-3 in conference play. The Privateers split two league matches last weekend, sweeping Sarah Lawrence and dropping a straight set decision to Mount Saint Vincent. In the win over the Gryphons Meredith Hayes produced 12 kills and Erika Bailey handed out 31 assists.
Coming into Sunday's action, Hayes leads the team in kills with 165 by just two winners of Shannon Brady who has put away 163 winners on the season. Carly Lombardo has amassed 53 service aces through 21 matches and Bailey is leading the team in assists with 531, good for over seven helpers per set. Gabrielle Kempski is one of two players averaging better than three digs per set with a team-high 260 and Sheila Flaherty has recorded a team best 35 total blocks.
Scouting St. Joseph's: The Golden Eagles enter a non-conference tri-match on Saturday at 4-13 overall and come to town on Sunday with a 1-3 mark in Skyline Conference play. St. Joseph's has dropped its last five decisions, including a five set loss to Farmingdale State and a four set defeat to USMMA on October 8.
Kiersten Kissinger leads the team in kills with 127 and is tied for the team lead in total blocks with Dana Moeller with 19. Courtney Wickline holds the team lead in assists with 371 and joins Erin Kelly atop the team leader board in aces with 24. Danielle Senecal paces the Golden Eagles with 221 digs.
What's Next: Following a busy week, Mount Saint Mary will close the regular season with five straight road matches starting with a conference tri-match at Sage on October 22.
