UAlbany Volleyball Improves Win Streak to Six with Three-Set Sweep at Hartford
Box Score | Box Score (PDF)
ALBANY, N.Y. – The UAlbany volleyball team hit .309 to defeat Hartford in three sets (26-24, 25-14, 25-18) on the road for its sixth consecutive victory.
UAlbany (12-8, 7-1 AE) rallied back from down 7-0 in the first set to win over Hartford (0-23, 0-8 AE) for the team's third straight shutout win.
Laini Leindecker hit .400 in the match with 14 kills and three blocks. Tatum Jungsten had a .389 hitting percentage with nine kills and three blocks while Paula Pinto had three aces and nine digs.
For Hartford, Paulina Modestow had a team-best 13 kills, adding four digs. Katy Henchy concluded with eight kills.
Including a pair of service aces by Erinn Lavelle, Hartford began the first set on a 7-0 run. An Amanda Dolan tip kill stopped the run as UAlbany looked to claw back, getting five of seven points, including two Leindecker kills, to pull to 9-5. UAlbany got back to within two after kills from Jungsten and Shannon Hurley, but Hartford countered with a 3-0 run to make it 15-8. Down 18-10, MJ Engstrom called a timeout to reorganize. UAlbany earned a couple of runs of 3-0 and 5-0, the latter with two Leindecker kills, to pull within two at 20-18. Hartford got two points back, then UAlbany surged ahead. Fueled by two dump kills by Mikala McCauley and finished by a block and kill by Hurley, UAlbany completed a 5-0 run to take the lead 23-22. Hartford defended once on set point. At 24-24, a Dolan kill sent McCauley back to serve. McCauley hit a serve through the arms of her target for the ace, completing the comeback as UAlbany took set one 26-24.
Down 3-1 early, kills from Chloe Lamb and Leindecker, plus a service ace to the back line for Pinto, gave UAlbany six of seven points for a 7-4 advantage. The sides went back and forth until at 12-9, Hartford, again off Lavelle's serving, too four in a row to lead 13-12. Leindecker stopped the run with a kill and a block, then after a Hartford point, Jungsten sent UAlbany into the lead with a kill and block. UAlbany continued the strike with a Hartford attack error, kills from Jungsten and Leindecker, two Pinto aces, another Hartford attack error and three straight Leindecker kills finished the set on an 11-0 run, giving the set to UAlbany 25-14 for a 2-0 lead in the match.
After some early back and forth in the third set, a Leindecker kill and McCauley-Jungsten combo block made it 8-5 UAlbany. Hartford pulled to within one with a couple of Katy Henchy kills, then tied the set at 10-10 after a Great Dane attack error. UAlbany went back ahead off a Hartford attack error and a McCauley ace for a 12-10 advantage. Following a Hartford kill, Dolan notched a kill to spark a 5-0 UAlbany run, adding two more in the streak off Gabrielle Hansen's serving, for a 17-11 lead. Hartford got three in a row in the following points to pull within three. UAlbany never lost the advantage, winning six of the final eight points, including two Jungsten kills, to seal the set 25-18 and sweep the match.
UAlbany will stay in New England for its next match, taking on New Hampshire, the first-place team in the America East, on Sunday, November 1st at 1 p.m. in Durham.
