ALBANY – The College of Saint Rose women’s volleyball team halted a three-match home losing streak by upending visiting Mercy College 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-15, 26-24) in a non-conference contest this evening at the Daniel P. Nolan Gymnasium. The Golden Knights (10-5) put forward a balanced attack as all 13 players on the roster saw action, five of which contributed at least five kills.
Sophomore outside hitter
Sarah Kahrs led all players with 13 kills for Saint Rose. Kahrs, the third leading server in the Northeast-10 Conference, also finished with a season-high seven aces. Junior middle hitter
Kelly Ryan hit .280 with 11 kills as well to pace the offense.
Additionally, sophomore setter
Theresa Staulo passed out a season-high 47 assists, while senior libero
Mary German piloted the defense behind 17 digs.
The Mavericks (1-12) also had two players reach double-digits in kills. Junior middle hitter Shedeiky Hamilton wound up with 12 kills and 10 digs, while senior outside hitter Diana Bruzzone added 11 kills and 15 digs.
In the first set, the Golden Knights forced eight Mercy errors and never once trailed from the opening serve. The Mavericks cut their deficit to three, 20-17, late in the set but a service error and an attack error pushed the Saint Rose advantage back to five, 22-17. Consecutive kills by senior right side hitter Jaclyn Griffin (Glen Mills, PA/Penncrest) and junior outside hitter
Rachel Baxter sealed things for the Golden Knights.
Mercy bounced back in the second set by committing a mere four errors in 29 attempts. Saint Rose jumped out to a 4-1 edge, but the Mavericks fought back and eventually took a 21-17 lead following three attack errors and a ball handling error by the Golden Knights. Bruzzone punctuated things with a kill to close out a 25-22 triumph.
Saint Rose rolled to a 25-15 win in the third set. The Golden Knights hit a blistering .414 on the strength of 14 kills in 29 chances with a mere two errors. Kahrs led the way with seven kills alone, while Griffin added three.
The fourth and deciding set came right down to the wire, although Saint Rose was ahead 24-19 with a chance to close out the match. Again, the Golden Knights committed three straight attack errors following a Bruzzone sideout and preceding a kill by Hamilton that knotted things at 24-24. Bruzzone then served the ball into the net and Staulo tapped home a pass from freshman outside hitter
Kayleigh Quinn for the final 26-24 margin.
Saint Rose will hit the road Friday for the first of four consecutive road matches when the Golden Knights head to Merrimack College for a 7:00 pm NE-10 contest in North Andover, MA. Mercy is scheduled to return to East Coast Conference (ECC) play Thursday night when the Mavericks host NYIT at 7:00 pm in Dobbs Ferry, NY.
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