DURHAM, N.H. – The Saint Peter's volleyball team (0-1) fell to the Northeastern Huskies (1-0) in four sets (25-23, 21-25, 16-25, 19-25) at Lundholm Gymnasium on Friday, kicking off the Holly Young Invitational hosted by New Hampshire.
The Peacocks started strong with a win in the first set, but as the match progressed, the Huskies found their footing and started to take control. Despite the defeat, Saint Peter's recorded eight aces at the line compared to Northeastern's four.
Sibana González Acevedo and
Indira T. Benitez Dumeng each racked up double-digit kills, leading the Saint Peter's attack. González Acevedo recorded a team-high 12 kills and three aces while Benitez Dumeng notched 10 kills.
In her first match in a Peacocks uniform, true freshman setter
Alondra Fargas recorded 20 assists to lead the team in that category.
Cleopatra Diakou finished with seven while earning her 1000th career assist in the process.
HOW IT HAPPENED
SET ONE: The Peacocks jumped out to a fast start with two kills by González Acevedo and a kill by
Valeria Pagan Munoz for a 3-0 lead. Shortly after, the Huskies tied everything up at 3-3 and then again at 7-7. After Northeastern tied it up, Saint Peter's went on a 5-1 run, made up of three aces.
Elena Bilhartz was responsible for three of the five points in the run. The Huskies started to creep back later in the set, and even took their first lead at 18-17. After a Northeastern service error, the tie returned, 18-18. The tie continued to 23-23 before Benitez Dumeng put one away to give Saint Peter's set point. An attack error by the Huskies then led to a 25-23 set win for the Peacocks.
SET TWO: With a one-point lead to start the set, the Peacocks went on a 5-1 run, forcing Northeastern to take its first timeout of the set. Out of the break, the Huskies saw their deficit grow from five to six as they trailed, 4-10. They didn't let that phase them as they went on a 9-1 run to take a 13-11 lead. González Acevedo put an end to the drought with a kill assisted by Diakou. The Huskies then piled on eight straight kills for a commanding, 21-12, advantage. Saint Peter's put together a small comeback late in the set, but it wasn't enough as Northeastern evened things up at 1-1.
SET THREE: Saint Peter's and Northeastern went back and forth to start the third set as both teams traded points to a, 10-10, tie. The Huskies broke the tie with five unanswered points, which set the tone for them in the set. Benitez Dumeng racked up several kills for the Peacocks, but Northeastern finished strong with a 25-16 win in set three.
SET FOUR: The fourth set had a similar start to the third as the Peacocks found themselves trailing, 9-10, after a kill from González Acevedo. The Huskies then went on another scoring run, taking a 17-10 lead over Saint Peter's. A spurt of Northeastern errors helped the Peacocks get back in the game as their deficit was cut to just three, 16-19. Later on, the Huskies scored five straight to set up match point. They went on to win the set, 25-19.
UP NEXT
The Peacocks continue competition at the Holly Young Invitational on Saturday when they play New Hampshire at 1 p.m. ET followed by Holy Cross at 4 p.m.
NOTES
This was the first matchup between the Peacocks and Huskies since Sept. 10, 2004…Saint Peter's moves to 1-4 all-time vs. Northeastern…Diakou picked up her 1000th career assist in the second set.
