Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Volleyball team remained unbeaten at home in 2016 on Saturday with a pair of Skyline Conference victories. The Knights topped St. Joseph's-Brooklyn 25-18, 26-24, 25-22 in straight sets and held off Sarah Lawrence in four sets 23-25, 25-16, 25-23, 25-17.
In the opener on Saturday against the Bears, the Knights raced out to a 9-0 lead on the strength of three service aces from
Kristen Maddock (Medford, N.Y.). The Mount saw the visitors climb back to within 10-6, but used a 6-1 run to close the set to move in front 1-0.
The Mount would trail much of the second set and found itself down 24-23, before a 3-0 run to finish off the frame and claim a commanding 2-0 lead. Following a ball handling error by the Bears, the Knights got kills from
Morgan Burke (Ringwood, N.J.) and
Megan Williams (Glenmont, N.Y.) to secure the win.
Mount Saint Mary would maintain the lead for much of the third set, but saw St. Joseph's rally to pull to within 24-22 with a three point run late in the set, but a Williams' winner finished off the Bears and sent the Knights to their third home win of the season.
Angelia Cirigliano (Newburgh, N.Y.) led the Mount with 13 kills, while hitting .273, adding a service ace and nine digs in the win.
Rachel Sabatini (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) posted nine kills and 12 digs for the Mount, while Burke and Williams each put away seven winners. Williams added a career-high 10 digs and Burke posted a career-best five total blocks.
Maddock rounded out the opening match of the day with 22 assists for the Knights and led all players with four service aces.
Madelyn Barberan (Fishkill, N.Y.) contributed a career-high 22 digs for the Knights in the win.
Mount Saint Mary finished the match with a 41-16 advantage in kills, while St. Joseph's-Brooklyn finished with an 8-7 edge in service aces. The Knights controlled the net with a 6-2 edge in total team blocks.
In the second match of the day, the Knights had to rebound from a 1-0 deficit after committing seven attack errors in a 25-23 defeat. The Mount rebounded to hit .290 in the second set and six different players recorded a kill to even the contest at 1-1.
Mount Saint Mary moved in front 2-1 after holding off the Gryphons in the third. The Knights built a 24-18 lead on a Sarah Lawrence attack error, before the Gryphons ripped off the next five points to move to within 24-23. A Sarah Lawrence service error decided the frame for the Knights.
The Mount built a 19-13 lead on a Cirigliano service ace and 5-2 closing run in the fourth frame, including kills from Sabatini and
Jackie Survilla (West Islip, N.Y.) to move to 4-0 at home on the season.
The Knights had three players reach double-figures in kills, led by 13 from Sabatini who chipped in with nine digs. Cirigliano added 10 winners for the Knights and matched the team-high with 14 digs, while Williams contributed 11 winners, three aces and closed a double-double effort with 10 more digs.
Maddock led the team with 17 assists, with
Kim Gries (Hicksville, N.Y.) adding 16 helpers in the win. Barberan lifted 14 digs for the Mount and Cirigliano led the way with five of the team's nine service aces.
Sarah Lawrence was led by 16 kills from Francesca Kohani and a got a match-high 27 digs from Lauren Kilroy. C.J. Kelley led all players with 28 assists in the match.
Overall, Mount Saint Mary finished with a 48-34 advantage in kills and a 9-4 edge in service aces. The Knights won the blocking battle for the second straight match, 6-4.
At 5-12 overall on the season and 2-0 in conference play, the Knights will close out a season-long four match home stand on Tuesday against Rutgers-Newark. Match time is set for 7:00 p.m.
