SELINSGROVE, PA (October 27, 2021) -- The Susquehanna University volleyball team clinched a spot in the Landmark Conference playoffs Wednesday with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-19) victory over Catholic University on Senior Night from O.W. Houts Gymnasium.
The River Hawks (22-5, 4-1 Landmark) upped their win streak to 11 on the evening as they honored their six seniors in
Samantha Balsamo,
Megan Nelson,
Brooke LaCesa,
Riley O'Dowd,
Lizzie Herestofa and
Paige Sfiroudis. The group would start together for the first time, but had a slow start as a short-handed Catholic (6-23, 1-4 Landmark) came out firing with an early lead. The set would be tied seven times, the last time coming at 20-20 but SU surged ahead on kills by O'Dowd and
Kody Dillon to take a 24-22 lead. Two points later, Dillon would clinch the early match edge with a kill to make it 1-0 in favor of the hosts. O'Dowd finished with six kills on 12 attempts in the set, while Balsamo had four digs and 10 assists.
The second set was once again close, as CUA led until a 5-1 spurt saw the River Hawks take a 11-9 lead. Susquehanna would extend its lead with a 4-0 run fueled by strong serving from Nelson to take a 18-13 lead, but the Cardinals responded with four straight points of their own to make it a one-point game. SU took the momentum right back with three straight points, two coming from first-year
Amanda Gore, and finished off the set at 25-21 on back-to-back kills from
Rosina Esposito.
The third game Susquehanna used an 8-2 run to take control of the set midway through the stanza, as LaCesa tallied six kills in the period to put the match away. The offensive output for SU was strong Wednesday evening, as the team hit .304 in the victory with just 12 errors all night.
Offensively, O'Dowd posted 12 kills and five digs for the River Hawks, while Esposito finished with 11 kills, eight digs and two aces. Dillon had a strong evening as well with nine kills on 18 swings, adding four blocks, while Herestofa finished with 13 digs and seven assists.
Madison Rockey came off the bench to total 21 helpers and four digs, while LaCesa finished with eight terminations. Nelson posted nine digs and two aces as well for SU.
Mackenzie Collier had 12 kills to lead the way for the Cardinals, and Caroline Kelly picked up 17 digs in the loss.
Up Next
- The River Hawks will travel to Elizabethtown, PA Saturday to take on the host Blue Jays along with the University of Scranton in the final two Landmark Conference matches of the year. The three teams will be vying for seeding, as the E-Town is tied for first with Juniata at 5-0 in league play, while Scranton and SU are tied for second place at 4-1 in the standings going into the weekend.
--RIVER HAWKS--
