Volleyball Comes Back to Claim Five-Set Thriller at UNE

Volleyball Comes Back to Claim Five-Set Thriller at UNE

BIDDEFORD, Maine – Down 2-0, Suffolk volleyball stormed back and won the next three to capture a 3-2 Commonwealth Coast Conference win over the University of New England Tuesday night at the Harold Alfond Forum. The Rams league win came by set scores 22-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-23, 15-12.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 3 | UNE 2 
RECORDS: Suffolk (8-13, 2-4 CCC) | UNE (8-13, 1-5 CCC) 

HOW IT HAPPANED
UNE won the first set 25-22, and claimed the second 25-23 to go up 2-0 in the conference contest. Suffolk responded and mirrored the Nor'Easters wins in the third and fourth set by identical scores from the first and second frames to level the playing field.  

The blue-and-gold managed to capture the victory in the fifth. Suffolk trailed 7-4 and scored four in a row to flip the script, 8-7. UNE locked things up at 8-8, but back-to-back points from the Rams put the visitors in front, 10-8. The points ping ponged from there and that two-point margin proved to be the difference marker.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

  • McKenna Keowen had a monster double-double night with 24 kills and 18-digs to go with three blocks and two assists. 
  • Jasmine James and Alina Nowakowski had double-digit kills as well with 14 and 11, respectively. 
  • Nowakowski led at the net with four blocks. 
  • Harmony Johnson and Jayla Martinez split time as Suffolk's setter. The former had 26 handouts, while the latter dished out 25 assists. 
  • Kenzley Bell's 32 digs powered the defense. The junior was on the verge of a double-double with nine helpers on her stat line as well.  

NOTEWORTHY

  • Suffolk defeated UNE for the first time in program history. Rams move to 1-2 versus UNE. 
  • The Rams and Nor'Easters went more than three sets for the first time. 
  • Suffolk and the University of New England played on a non-neutral hardwood for the first time. 
  • Keowen had her seventh double-double of the season. 
  • Keowen notched a personal-best in kills (24) and digs (18). 
  • James logged a career-high 14 kills. 
  • Bell recorded a career-best 32 digs. 
  • Nowakowski had a personal-high 11 kills.  

POST-MATCH PIC
  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk starts a five-match homestay Thursday, Oct. 21 when it steps away from CCC action and hosts Regis at Larry E. and Michael S. Smith Court at 7 p.m.