ST. DAVIDS, PA (October 21, 2022) – Visiting Eastern University for the first of their three road matches this weekend, Susquehanna volleyball pushed hard to try to deal the Eagles their first home loss of the season, but ultimately came up short, falling 3-0 with set scores of 15-25, 22-25, and 27-29.
The hosts came out hot and kept the River Hawks behind for much of the first set, hitting a match-high .410 as a team in the set and not allowing Susquehanna to score more than two points in a row during the set. The second set would prove to be a much closer affair in comparison, with SU tallying 15 kills in the set and improving to a .297 hitting clip after only reaching .200 in the first. The River Hawks led by as many as three points in the set, with an early four point run propelled by two kills apiece from Emily Kowalski and Kody Dillon helping them jump ahead. Kowalski in particular would be a strong contributor on the night, tallying nine total kills on a .250 hitting percentage and popping up with kills at important junctures in the hard-fought second and third sets.
With the teams tied at 17 each in the second set, a four-point run from Eastern would ultimately prove to be enough to hold out and take the 2-0 set lead, with SU narrowing the gap back to 1 at 22-23 on a kill from Ryan Rorls, but Eastern took the final two points.
Set three was an endurance battle throughout, with the teams tied on eight separate occasions in the set and trading significant scoring runs in between. After dropping the first four points, SU would claim the next three, then training points with the Eagles while Rosina Esposito stepped up with two kills and a block on three of Susquehanna's points in a row. With the score at 5-4 in Eastern's favor, SU would go on a six-point run, mostly propelled by errors by the Eagles. A five-point streak later on saw the River Hawks lead by as many as six points, but Eastern would battle back and see the bulk of the tied scorelines in the set begin when the teams met at 18-18. They would proceed to tie on 19, 20, and 21 before SU could tally two points in a row on kills by Kowalski and Rorls, leading 23-21. Again though, the Eagles rallied back to tie on 23, and the back-and-forth continued as the teams met on 24, 25, 26, and 27, with the Eagles reaching each of those points first before the River Hawks grabbed the following point. It would end on two consecutive kills by Eastern to reach the requisite two-point advantage after 25, and the Eagles closed out the 3-0 win.
While SU will be disappointed with the scoreline and result, it doesn't do justice to the competitiveness of the River Hawks throughout the match and how easily the result might have gone in SU's favor. Esposito led the team in kills, service aces, and digs, with 10, two, and 13, respectively. Amanda Gore also proved to be a solid contributor on the night, tallying seven kills and a .500 hitting percentage while also leading the team with three block assists. Sophomore setter Keira Roach took her usual spot atop the team in assists, tallying 32 fresh off her 48-assist performance in Wednesday's win over Drew that saw her surpass 1000 assists in her career.
The River Hawks will have a chance to produce some winning results tomorrow, with two more matches that will close out their weekend road trip and also finish out their non-conference matches for the regular season. They'll travel to Dickinson College, where they'll face Swarthmore College in a neutral site match at 2 pm, before facing off against the hosts at 4 pm.
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--RIVER HAWKS--
