NEWBURGH, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College women's volleyball team bounced back for a win over SUNY Purchase after dropping their last four.
The Basics
Score: Mount Saint Mary College 3, Purchase 1
Records: Mount Saint Mary College (6-13, 3-2 Skyline) | Purchase (4-11, 1-4)
Rapid Recap
Finally returning home after four straight road matches, the Knights matched up against Purchase College Tuesday evening. Mount Saint Mary took control from the jump, as
Isabella Israel led the team on an 8-1 run that included two aces to start the match. Five of the Knights' points this set would come from aces from Israel,
Jonaiya Williams,
Isabella Montemagno, and
Sofia Fredericks. With a commanding 19-10 lead, the Mount looked to cruise to victory in the first set, but that was not the case. The Panthers battled back with an 8-1 run to bring the set to 20-18 MSMC. Feeling the momentum shifting, the Knights turned it up a notch, closing out the set 25-22 with a couple of kills from
Jonaiya Williams.
Set number two stayed much tighter throughout with 21 lead changes. The Knights were down early, but
Julianna Simone provided some offense to keep them in it. Mount Saint Mary gained a small lead, 12-9, after three straight kills from
Brooke Lavelle and
Jonaiya Williams. No matter what, Purchase hung in there and responded to whatever the Mount threw at them. The Knights had their backs against the wall down 21-19 at the end of the set but answered when it mattered most with a 6-0 run to win the set 25-21.
Mount Saint Mary had a chance to sweep the Panthers and it looked promising to start as
Julianna Simone led them to a quick 5-0 start. Purchase fought back to bring their deficit to only one until kills from
Erin Lema and
Ava DiScala gave the Knights some breathing room. The Mount held the lead for the majority of the set until a 10-0 run from out of nowhere put them down 24-17. By the time the Knights could get anything going it was too late as Purchase avoided the sweep and forced a fourth set.
Both squads started the fourth set with 4-0 runs of their own. Mount Saint Mary found themselves controlling the lead for most of the set as a service run from
Allie Kenney gave them a 12-6 lead. The Panthers caught fire at the end of the set once again, taking the lead right out of the Knights' hands and going up 23-21. It seemed like a fifth set was inevitable at this point until
Jonaiya Williams had something to say about that. Williams tied the game up 23-23 and then
Ava DiScala gave the Knights the lead 25-24 with an ace forcing the win-by-two scenario. Purchase would regain the lead 26-25 on set point. The combination of
Julianna Simone,
Sofia Fredericks, and
Brooke Lavelle came up clutch scoring three straight and winning the set 28-26 and the match 3-1.
Notes and Numbers
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