BOSTON – In the tail end of its GNAC tri-match at Emmanuel, the Suffolk volleyball team came out on the winning end against Albertus Magnus, sweeping the Falcons at Jean Yawkey Center.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 3, Albertus Magnus 0
RECORDS: Suffolk (9-8, 2-3 GNAC) | Albertus Magnus (5-12, 0-4 GNAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk easily handled Albertus Magnus in the first frame, 25-16, and battled with the Falcones in the second. Coming back from four-down, the Rams locked up the second stanza win, 25-20, and sealed the sweep with an identical three frame score.
Bridget Allison was a powerful force offensively for the Rams. The sophomore knocked home 12 kills on a .500 hitting clip. Allison added five digs, two aces and one block to her stat line. Kaleigh Khanna had a career-match notching career-best in every category. The freshman contributed six kills and digs, respectively, to go along with two aces, one assist and one block. Talia Lombardo took the majority of Suffolk's setting responsibly with 17 assists. The sophomore added four kills, four digs and two aces. Defensively, Alyssa Gibson (13 digs) and Sydney Littlefield (10 digs) led the way with career-high efforts.
SET ONE RECAP (25-16, SUFFOLK)
- After trading points to open the match, Suffolk rattled off eight straight to take a 10-1 advantage early on.
- Back-to-back aces from Khaleigh Khanna stretched the Rams' edge to 16-5.
- Suffolk maintained its lead down the stretch and set up match point, 24-11.
- The Falcons kept the Rams from securing a one-point lead for a little longer, however, as they went on a 5-0 run to cut Suffolk's lead to 24-16.
- Chidera Nwankwo finished the set off, however, with a kill, 25-16.
SET TWO RECAP (25-20, SUFFOLK)
- Suffolk found itself in an early 6-3 hole that held at 10-6.
- The Rams locked the score at 13-13 and a see-saw fair ensued.
- Bridget Allison knocked down consecutive kills to put the Rams in front for the first time in the set, 19-17.
- Albertus Magnus took a timeout to talk things over, but Suffolk held onto its slim edge.
- The Rams put the set away, 25-20, with consecutive kills from Allison, Jane Buckley and Leah Pedersen.
SET THREE RECAP (25-20, SUFFOLK)
- Suffolk jumped ahead 4-1.
- Albertus Magnus came back to tie the score at 5-5 and it would tie twice more, first at 8-all, and 9-9.
- The Falcons used a 7-2 stretch to gain a 17-11 advantage.
- An 8-0 run by the Rams regained the lead for the blue-and-gold 20-17.
- Suffolk continued to role and outscored the Falcons, 5-3, the rest of the way to lock up with victory.
NOTEWORTHY
- Suffolk recorded its fourth sweep of the season, the most since notching five in 2014.
- The win marks the Rams ninth of the year, giving Suffolk the most victories since 16 in 2013.
- Khanna, Littlefield and Gibson all notched career bests in the match.
- Allison paced Suffolk's offense for the 10th time this season.
POST-MATCH PIC
NEXT UP
Suffolk welcomes Rivier to Regan Gymnasium Monday, Oct. 10 for a 6 p.m. Columbus Day match.