WASHINGTON, DC (October 1, 2022) – Susquehanna volleyball opened their Landmark Conference campaign with a tri-match hosted by Catholic University on Saturday afternoon. They began the day facing No. 4 Juniata College and would fall to the Eagles in straight sets, with scores of 20-25, 10-25, and 7-25. SU would rebound for their second match, sweeping the hosts 3-0 with set scores of 25-22, 25-22, and 25-19.
Match 1: Juniata 3, Susquehanna 0
The match started slowly for both teams with a match-high nine hitting errors from Juniata in the set keeping the score close. The difference would prove to be a late three-point run to close out the first set, through an SU service error and two back-to-back kills.
From there, Juniata's hitting would improve drastically while Susquehanna saw theirs decline and struggled to regain a foothold. The difficulties were evident in the final statistics, as Juniata would tally 57 points to just 24 for Susquehanna, including 42 kills for the Eagles to just 18 for SU. Service would be a key difference maker, as the Eagles tallied 12 aces while the River Hawks had only two. Susquehanna did win the battle at the net, netting four blocks to just three for Juniata, but their advantage would go no further.
Individual numbers suffered as well, as Rosina Esposito had a season-low eight kills to lead the team and Keira Roach also had a season-low assist total of 11.
Match 2: Susquehanna 3, Catholic 0
The River Hawks were able to regroup well for their second match of the day and turned in a much stronger performance in their sweep of the Cardinals. It would not all be easy going though, as Catholic put up a fight and forced some runs from SU in order for them to claim their three set victories. Set one would see the lead trade hands as the teams played close for the opening 15 points, before a four-point run during the service of Regan Kane gave Susquehanna a three-point cushion that they saw out to take set one.
SU started slow in set two, trailing by as many as six points in the early goings. But a handful of attack errors from the Cardinals opened the door for Susquehanna to get back into the set and kills from Esposito, Amanda Gore, and Emily Kowalski would propel them to victory in the second set.
Taking a big boost of momentum from the comeback victory in set two, the River Hawks had their best set of either of the day's matches in set three to close out the match. They totaled 16 kills with a .351 team hitting percentage, while also being again buoyed by mistakes from Catholic's offense. The River Hawks led by as many as eight at various points in the sets, with scoring runs on the service of Emily Kyle and Jessica Sack both making big contributions. With the score 22-14, Catholic managed a late comeback effort to narrow the score with five points in a row, but an Esposito kill stalled their momentum and in a display indicative of much of the rest of the match, the final two points went the way of Susquehanna on Catholic attack errors.
Esposito led in kills again, this time racking up a more typical total of 15 with only one hitting error and a strong .452 hitting percentage. Kyle would lead the team in digs and aces, with 14 and three, respectively. Roach tallied 32 assists and Gore led the way in blocks with a solo block and two block assists.
Having split their conference opener weekend, Susquehanna is now 8-7 overall and 1-1 in the Landmark. With their last six matches having come on the road, they'll now return home for a short stretch, with another Landmark matchup slated for Wednesday, October 5 as they'll welcome Moravian University to Selinsgrove for a 7 pm start. They'll then host the Bromwyn Keener/Amanda Swazey Superstar Invite over the weekend, with Neumann University, Thiel College, and Vassar College all set to participate. The matches will start on Friday, October 7, with the first at 5 pm.
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--RIVER HAWKS--
