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Hempstead, NY – It was an impressive start for the Colonial Athletic Association for the Hofstra volleyball team as the Pride beat Towson in five sets, ending a streak of winning streaks for the Tigers in the process.
Graduate student Ana Martinovic recorded 16 kills and added 14 digs for pride, while the freshman Beatriz Alves had 36 assists and nine digs, freshman Chiara Cucco posted 26 digs, and junior Sarah Pierre notched a career-high 12 blocks.
The established scores were 9-25, 25-19, 25-19, 21-25 and 15-12.
The victory ended several long back-to-back winning streaks for Towson, who won the last two CAA Championships. The Tigers entered the game with the country’s longest winning streak with 12 games and had won 23 straight CAA games since 2018. Hofstra’s victory also ended a 36-game regular-season winning streak for Towson, dating back to September 13, 2019.
Hofstra improved to 7-5 overall and 1-0 in the league, while Towson slipped to 12-1, 0-1 in conference action.
Towson took the lead early in the competition with a resounding victory in the first set. Hofstra responded, however, and would take the next two sets by identical scores to take the 2-1 lead in the game. Pride’s defense strengthened in those two sets as they kept Towson at 0.057 hitting percent in the second set, followed by an offensive percent of 0.083 in the third set to put them on. the point of gaining victory. Towson rallied with a strong attacking performance in the fourth set to send the game to a decisive fifth and final set.
That was all Hofstra early in the final set as Pride took a 7-0 lead that included two aces serving Alves. The Pride still led 11-3 after a junior kill Athina Dimitriadis before Towson makes a comeback. The Tigers closed the lead to two, 14-12, with Hofstra having several match points ahead of a Peter and first-year block Florencia Wolkowyski finished the game and gave Pride the huge win at the start of the season.
Wolkowyski finished with 12 kills for Pride, who also got eight kills and four blocks from Dimitriadis.
Fay Bakodimou had 12 eliminations and 12 recoveries for Towson, who also had 10 eliminations and 13 recoveries from Emily Jarome.
These same two teams will meet on Sunday at 1 p.m. to close the first conference weekend.
REMARKS
– Hofstra is 45-19 against Towson. This was the first meeting between the teams since 2019, as they did not meet during the condensed spring 2021 campaign.
– The previous 11-block Pierre career high arrived at Colgate on September 11, 2021.
– The double-double was Martinovic’s team fourth this season.
– Hofstra has improved to 3-0 in five sets this season.
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