JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The Saint Peter's volleyball team (4-4) took down Morgan State (3-7) in four sets (25-20, 25-20, 18-25, 25-21) at Run Baby Run Arena on Friday, picking up its first win at home this season. The Peacocks felt they were prepared coming in, and they pulled through for the victory.
"It's always great to pick up the first home win," head coach
Fernando Colon said after the game. "I thought we had a good week of practice. We worked hard on setting up a gameplan all week, and it's always good to see the girls go execute."
It seemed as if the Peacocks had an answer every time the Bears made a run tonight, and it showed as Saint Peter's forced Morgan State into committing 28 total errors.
Once again,
Sibana González Acevedo led the charge offensively for the Peacocks, racking up 16 kills on the night. She finished with a .243 hitting percentage while adding five digs on the receiving end. The right side hitter and middle blocker duo of
Indira T. Benitez Dumeng and
Karolina T. Rodriguez Mendez also impressed as they combined for 15 kills, eight digs and three blocks.
Elena Bilhartz was a force to be reckoned with at the net the entire match. She recorded five blocks, which led all players who saw the court tonight.
The Peacocks have no time to celebrate this win as they take on Pennsylvania and Delaware in a doubleheader tomorrow. The Saturday slate will begin with UPenn at 1 p.m. ET followed by Delaware at 5 p.m.
"Today we were focusing on Morgan State, and our next opponent is UPenn so now we're just focused on them," Colon stated. "On the bus ride, we're going to go through the scouting report on them, come with a gameplan and try to match the same effort we had today."
HOW IT HAPPENED
SET ONE: The Peacocks built themselves a 10-6 lead early on in the set, but back-to-back points from Morgan State made it a two-point match. Gonzalez Acevedo rose up for a kill before a Bear's attack error and an ace from
Lagean Colon forced a Morgan State timeout. Saint Peter's held a 13-8 advantage at the timeout, but later on Morgan State went on a 7-2 run to make it 18-21. The Peacocks then used a timeout of their own. Shortly after the break, Gonzalez Acevedo gained set point for SPU before picking up the kill that won the set as well. She finished with seven kills in the set as the Peacocks took set one 25-20.
SET TWO: The Bears started off with a 7-6 lead over the Peacocks, but that didn't last long after Saint Peter's went on a 5-0 scoring run to go up 12-10. The Peacocks managed to hold onto that two-point lead all the way to 18-16 as Morgan State called a timeout. Later in the set, Saint Peter's reached set point on a Morgan State attack error. The Peacocks then won the set, 25-20, after a strong kill from Rodriguez Mendez. 11 errors by the Bears led to points for the Peacocks in set two.
SET THREE: Morgan State came out firing in set three, jumping out to a 5-1 lead and forcing an early Saint Peter's timeout. The Peacocks started to make things interesting after the timeout and even took the lead at 11-10 following an ace from
Alondra Fargas. SPU then trailed, 13-14, when five unanswered points put the Bears up 19-13. The Peacocks managed to come within two points, but Morgan State scored six of the last seven points to take the set, 25-18.
SET FOUR: The Peacocks trailed, 2-6, to start set four, but as the set continued, SPU rallied to tie things up at 8-8. Similar to the third set, Morgan State went on a large scoring run to take a 14-9 advantage. This time, however, Saint Peter's came back late and finished strong. Aces by
Andrea Rodríguez and kills from Bilhartz helped the Peacocks finish things off down the stretch. SPU took set four, 25-21, after a kill from
Jaizahir Marrero George.
UP NEXT
The Peacocks jump right back into action with a doubleheader against Pennsylvania and Delaware on Saturday. The match against Penn is scheduled to start 1 p.m. followed by Delaware at 5 p.m.
NOTES
The Peacocks are now 1-1 all-time vs. the Bears…Gonzalez Acevedo's 16 kills are a career-high…Saint Peter's committed 25 errors compared to Morgan State's 28…this is the Peacocks first victory at home since defeating Manhattan in five sets on Oct. 26, 2024.
