Box Score
BUFFALO, N.Y. - The D'Youville women's volleyball team kicked off their final weekend of East Coast Conference action Saturday, falling to Bridgeport, 3-1, after taking the opening set at the College Center Gym. The setback drops the Saints to 2-9 in league play and 3-21 on the season.
The Saints got off to a hot start on Saturday, taking the first set 25-20 and grabbing the one set advantage after using a 10-2 run to flip the lead and close the set. Trailing 19-16, D'Youville made their move with a 5-0 spurt, using back-to-back aces courtesy of freshman Emma Wlostowski. Kills from freshmen Jaycee Karelus and Eve Musielak clinched the set, ending a four-match streak without a set victory for the hosts.
The second-place Purple Knights (16-8 overall, 8-2 ECC) responded in the second set, cruising past the Saints, 25-11. A 5-0 run, quickly followed by a 10-0 run, proved costly for D'Youville as Bridgeport turned what was once a 6-5 advantage for the Saints into a 22-8 lead for themselves. The tables flipped for D'Youville quickly as they posted a -.031 hitting percentage in the one-sided second set.
The third and fourth sets also went the way of the Purple Knights as D'Youville struggled to regain their form from the beginning of the match. Down to their last strike, the Saints tightened up the end of the fourth set with three straight points on kills from Nathalya Rocha and Sarah Wittek. The run trimmed the Bridgeport advantage to four points at 24-20, but a kill from Emily Burford ended the set and the match.
D'Youville played some of their best volleyball in the opening frame, hitting .321, good for their best hitting percentage in a set all season ... Their previous best was .318 in the fourth set against Molloy back on Oct. 24.
Wittek and Musielak paced the Saints in kills with nine apiece while Rocha added eight … Wittek also put up two solo blocks and three total with an assist … Freshman Samantha Killane collected 16 digs for D'Youville while Musielak tallied nine.
The Saints will wrap up ECC and regular season play tomorrow when they play for the final time this season at the College Center. Tomorrow's match with Mercy is slated for a noon start.
Follow the Saints
Catch tomorrow's match on the ECC Network and track the action on Live Stats. Make sure to follow the Saints on Instagram (@dyouvillewvb) and Twitter (@dyouvillewvb).
