LEWISBURG, PA - The Saint Peter's women's volleyball team notched the season's first victory in thrilling fashion over Hampton on Friday afternoon. In the opening game of the Bucknell Invitational, the Peacocks topped the Pirates (18-25, 25-19, 20-25, 25-21, 15-12) en route to the 3-2 win. Saint Peter's also faced host Bucknell in the tournament, falling in straight sets (16-25, 12-25, 15-25)
Dramatic Five Setter Against Hampton
- The Peacocks never led during the opening set. After a 1-1 tie, the Pirates would go on and win 25-18.
- The Peacocks responded with their largest set win of the afternoon in set number two.
- The team came out firing offensively, getting two kills each from Angeleyshka Curbelo and Danielle Lopez, plus a single kill and a service ace from Alanis Alvarado to put the Peacocks ahead 7-5.
- After three straight ties, Saint Peter's used a 4-0 run (Stephanie Rivera kill, Curbelo kill, and back-to-back aces from Alvarado) to go ahead 13-9.
- Late in the set, Saint Peter's fell behind 17-18, but outscored Hampton 8-1 over the set's final nine points to grab the 25-19 win.
- In set three, neither team grabbed an advantage greater than three points throughout the set until Hampton went ahead 19-15 and eventually won the frame 25-20.
- Saint Peter's again bounced back in the fourth set led by Alvarado, who posted eight of her match high 16 kills in the set.
- The Peacocks went ahead 15-9 by the midway point in the set and never let the Pirates get closer than two points from that moment on, leading to a 25-21 victory.
- Saint Peter's dominated the fifth set early and held an 11-7 edge.
- Only needing four points for the win, the Peacocks gave up five straight points and fell behind 11-12, but came out on the winning end of the net by scoring the four needed points for the 15-12 match sealer.
- For the second consecutive match, Alvarado and Wildalys Soto notched double-doubles. Alvarado's came by way of 16 kills and 13 digs, while Soto's came from a team-high 41 assists and 11 digs.
- Curbelo (13) and Lopez (12) added double figure kills in addition to Alvarado in the match.
Game Notes vs. Bucknell
- The Peacocks ended the invitational with a match against host Bucknell, dropping the contest 0-3.
- Saint Peter's took a 5-1 advantage to open the match due to four straight attack errors by the Bison.
- After back and forth action that produced four ties, Bucknell took its first lead in the set at 12-11 and scored 13 out of the final 17 set points to snag the 25-16 win over Saint Peter's.
- Set number two had three ties and just one lead change as the Peacocks surrendered a 12-25 defeat.
- In the third and final set, Bucknell controlled all the way through, earning a 25-15 wire-to-wire win.
- Rivera was the team leader with seven kills. Alvarado followed with six kills and 10 digs.
Inside the Numbers:
- On the day, Alvarado was the team's top all-around performer, registering 22 kills offensively and 23 digs defensively.
- Other top offensive performances came from Curbelo (17 kills), Rivera (15 kills), and Lopez (14 kills).
- Soto paced the offense as the team's leader in sets, compiling 50 assists through both matches.
- Defensively, the Peacocks were led by Karla Seda, who picked up 32 digs and Lopez who had three block assists.
Coach's Quotes – Joe Chojnacki
- "We worked hard this week in practice on serving tougher and it was great to see it pay off against Hampton with 12 aces. Alanis Alvarado had four of them along with 16 kills and 13 digs. Wildalys Soto set a great match for us using all her hitters and got 41 assists. Danielle Lopez continues to improve in the middle and hit at a great percentage at .308."
- "Bucknell was a very fast, physical team and I think we were tired from the Hampton match. We are shaking it off and moving on."
- "Overall it was a positive day and getting our first win proves we're on the right track."
Up Next:
- Saint Peter's will host Delaware State next week on Wednesday, September 11 in its home opener at 6 p.m.
- Following that midweek matchup, the team travels north to New Britain, Connecticut, next weekend for the final multi-team tournament of the regular season, the Central Connecticut State Invitational.
