PLYMOUTH, N.H. -- Plymouth State University bounced right back after dropping the 3rd set to finish off a 3-1 women's volleyball result (25-8, 25-20, 19-25, 25-16) against the University of New England at Foley Gymnasium on Wednesday night (Sept. 27).
Winners of eight in-a-row, the Panthers improve to 10-2 overall, while the Nor'easters dip back to 5-4 entering Thursday's home match (6 p.m.) with Saint Joseph's College of Maine.
The hosts raced out to a comfortable 1st set, hitting .550 and holding UNE to a -.154 attack percentage. Things were much closer in the early parts of the 2nd, but an 8-0 PSU run established an 18-11 cushion, which was good enough to last for a two-set lead.
Five lead-changes and seven ties defined the initial stages of the 3rd, before kills from
Viktoria Pavlyuk and
Mina Regnery sandwiched and ace by
Kassidy Bradshaw and gave the visitors the edge in the stanza for good at 12-9. Three consecutive blocks from
Kailyn Reilly -- two with Pavlyuk, the other with Bradshaw -- made it 20-14, and the Nor'easters maintained that spread to get on the board.
Plymouth State raced out to a 7-1 advantage in the 4th, though, and never looked back. UNE staved off five match points with kills from Reilly and Pavlyuk, a block by Reilly and Bradshaw, and an ace from
Ellijah Hanley, but the deficit was too large to overcome.
Nora Ryan hit at a .545 clip on the way to 13 kills and a match-high 19 points to pace the Panthers, which included a hand in nine of the team's 11 blocks. Emma Hampton added 10 kills with considerable help from Kalista Butler, who framed 22 assists to go with four service aces. Makayla Marucci had 15 digs and three aces.
Pavlyuk topped the Nor'easters with nine kills and 11 points, and also registered nine digs.
Arden Caley tallied six kills, and Bradshaw put up the only double-double of the contest with 22 assists and 11 digs. Reilly contributed in three phases, with four kills, four aces, and five block assists.