Furlong Hits .450 on Senior Day to Lead UAlbany to Sweep UMass Lowell
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ALBANY, N.Y. – Sofia Furlong and Viktoriia Stroilo celebrated Senior Day with a three-set win over UMass Lowell (25-17, 25-19, 25-14) on Sunday to finish the home regular season.
Furlong hit .450 for UAlbany (7-14, 5-4 AE) with a career-high nine kills, adding three digs. Laini Leindecker also had nine kills, adding 18 digs and two aces, while Stroilo dug out 16 attacks. Emily Lopes earned career-highs with 31 assists and two blocks, adding seven digs.
"Vik [Stroilo] and Sofia [Furlong] had great matches, and that's what you hope for on Senior Day," said UAlbany coach MJ Engstrom. "We made a lineup adjustment, and Mikala [McCauley] did an outstanding job hitting for us. Emily [Lopes] ran the offense today and did exceptional things. Overall, we had a great team effort with a line we haven't practiced."
For UMass Lowell (2-24, 0-9 AE), Anisa Smith hit .200 with eight kills and 10 digs. Libero Hannah Rey had 24 digs.
A Kylee Chun serving run, capped with an ace, put the visitors up 4-1 in set one. Mikala McCauley notched a kill to start a 3-0 run to tie the set at four. After a couple of exchanges, at 7-7, UAlbany got the next three, capped by a Lopes ace, to go up 10-7. UML mirrored the streak and tied the game at 10-10. At 13-13, a Rey service error and two Leindecker kills pushed the home team up 16-13. The teams went back-and-forth again until at 18-16, Amanda Dolan earned a kill, then blocked a Masha Yelsukova attack to put the advantage to 20-16. UML got the next point, then Furlong got a couple of kills to begin a 5-0 run, finishing the set at 25-17 in favor of UAlbany.
Set two also began back-and-forth, when at 6-6, UAlbany took advantage of four UML errors in five points to make it 10-7 Great Danes. A Yelsukova kill and UAlbany attack error brought the visitors back within one. Later, a Ella Merrill service error and McCauley kill put the UAlbany lead back to three at 15-12. At 17-14, Rey served UML through a run of three to tie the game at 17-17. UAlbany called timeout and countered with a 3-0 run to take back the lead at 20-17. UML got back to within two at 21-19, then McCauley earned two kills, followed by Tatum Jungsten notching two kills to finish the set for UAlbany at 25-19, putting the Great Danes up 2-0 in the match.
UML won the first three points of the third set, later leading 7-4. Following a Leindecker kill, Jungsten went back to serve and earned an ace. Leindecker added two kills, inducing UML to call timeout. UAlbany added four more points, capped by a second Jungsten ace, to complete the run at 8-0 to surge UAlbany ahead 12-7, adding another 3-0 run to make it 15-8. Following a Smith kill, Leindecker went to serve, earning an ace, a kill and another ace in succession, adding a Dolan kill to put the score at 20-9 UAlbany. Adding another late 3-0 run off Lauren Spreen's serving, UAlbany held off a late UML run to finish the match on a Jungsten for a 25-14 set three win.
UAlbany will hit the road for its final three America East matches of the year, taking on Hartford on Friday, November 7th at 7 p.m.
