NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Curry College women's volleyball team managed to salvage the win against Albertus Magnus on Saturday afternoon. After taking the first two sets, the Colonels had to hold off the surging Falcons, managing a 15-12 victory in the fifth set to take the match. With the win, the Colonels improve to 8-3, marking their best start through 11 matches in program history. The Falcons now sit at 5-7.
The Colonels shot out to an impressive start in the first set, working to a 9-3 lead and forcing the hosts into an early timeout. Out of the break, Curry scored four straight to make it 13-3, before a kill by Lexi Pereira (Attleboro, Mass.) shortly later made it 16-4. Albertus made a push with a late 4-1 run, but the Colonels were able to close out the set with a 25-11 victory.
After a decisive first set, the Colonels looked to continue their push into the second frame, but soon saw the score knotted at 7-7. A kill by Pereira highlighted a seven-point run for Curry to make it 14-7, from which the Falcons would not be able to recover. The hosts managed to pull the deficit to within four at 16-12, but Curry closed out another set win with a 25-18 score.
Looking to avoid the sweep, the Falcons came out of the break ready to control the third set. After taking an 11-4 lead to open the stanza, the hosts followed a pair of attack errors with nine consecutive points to take set three quickly by a score of 25-10.
Clearly on a roll, Albertus again took an early lead as the fourth set opened, this time at 11-7. Curry managed to take back a couple of points after burning a timeout, but the Falcons managed to side out and soon stretched their lead to 22-11. A kill by Amanda Anderson (Hanson, Mass.) snapped a run by the hosts, but following the point, Albertus pushed three points and took the fourth game 25-12.
Looking to recover some of the momentum lost over the previous pair of sets, Curry got out to a 7-4 lead in the fifth set thanks to a kill from Caroline Kilduff (Rockland, Mass.). The Falcons charged back, however, and tied the score at 7-7 before taking their first lead in the set since 3-2. After switching sides, the Colonels rattled off three in a row before a ball-handling error by Albertus prompted the hosts to call a timeout with the Colonels ahead 11-9. The teams traded kills, but following a Falcon ace to pull the score to 14-12, the visitors escaped with a victory thanks to a service error.
Pereira led the Colonels in kills with 11 while teammate Faith Herity (River Edge, N.J.) managed double-digit kills for the third straight match with 10. Senior Lex Bell (Salem, Conn.) turned in a match-high 36 assists to go along with 17 digs, registering her seventh double-double of the year and fourth in her last five matches. Shea Mathews (Concord, N.H.) topped all players with 27 digs in the match. The Falcons were led by Diana Kalman (Naugatuck, Conn.), who hammered home eight kills. Jesselle Guzman (El Paso, Texas) turned in a team-high 22 digs, while Jaiden Williams (Orange, Conn.) led the Falcons with 29 assists.
The Colonels head home and will host Fisher College on Monday, September 23 at 6:00 p.m. The Falcons will enjoy a few days off before getting back on the court on Thursday, September 26 for a 7:00 p.m. match at SUNY Purchase.
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