BOX SCORE

WEST HAVEN, Conn. - Despite a strong rally, the University of New Haven women's volleyball team fell short in the NCAA Division II East Region Championship to Bridgeport, 3-1 (25-18, 25-20, 23-25, 26-24) on Saturday night at Charger Gymnasium. The loss concludes another stellar season for the Chargers as they finished the 2011 campaign with a 23-7 record. Bridgeport has advanced to the Elite Eight and is now 21-7 overall.

The Purple Knights have now defeated New Haven in the NCAA Division II East Region round for the third straight season. The previous two losses occured in the Semifinal Round.

Bridgeport came out strong in the first set and grabbed an early 3-0 lead. The momentum stayed in their favor the majority of game one as they never trailed and pulled away, 25-18.

Set two was a similar story as the Purple Knights looked poised to capture the East Region Championship. With a one-point lead, Bridgeport went on to score seven of the next nine points to go ahead, 12-6. Their largest lead of the game was seven and after a kill from Keidy Candelaria (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico/Bayamon Military Academy) cut the deficit to four, the Purple Knights retaliated with a kill of their own to take a 2-0 advantage in the match.

Trailing by two, the Chargers would not go away easily. In set three, Bridgeport grabbed an 8-2 lead and clearly had momentum on their side. However, an 8-2 run from New Haven tied the set at 10-10 and a kill from Kristy Atufunwa (Denver, Colo./Denver East) on the next play, gave the Chargers their first lead of the match. From that point on, the set went back-and-forth throughout until three straight points from the Purple Knights gave them a 21-18 lead. The Chargers, facing elimination and trailing by three, rallied behind Candelaria to tally five straight points to take the set, 25-23. Candelaria had three of the team's last five points.

With the momentum now in New Haven's favor and with a 10-7 lead, Atufunwa recorded two blocks and a kill to put the Chargers ahead 13-7. They held a lead until an attack error tied the set at 20-20. After two straight kills from Margo Meteyer (Madison, Wis./Madison West) and Candelaria, New Haven looked well on its way of forcing a game five as they went up, 24-21. However, the Purple Knights returned the favor from set three and tallied five straight points to take the set and match, 26-24.

Candelaria recorded a match-high 25 kills in the loss with 10 errors for a .221 hitting percentage and Elizabeth Akinbiyi (Miami Gardens, Fla./Chaminade-Madonna Prep.) added eight kills of her own. Senior Chelsey Alpough (Torrance, Calif./South / Western New Mexico Univ. ) led the offensive attack with 43 assists and Heather Ladao (West Covina, Calif./Rowland ) led the defense with 17 digs. Joining Ladao with double-digit digs were Meteyer and Jamie Levine (Medfield, Mass./Medfield / Keene State College) with 10 each.

Saturday nights match concluded an impressive 2011 season for the New Haven Chargers women's volleyball team that featured its fourth straight Northeast-10 Conference Regular Season Title as well as two NE-10 postseason laurels. Alpough was named the NE-10 Setter of the Year for the third straight season and Candelaria received her first NE-10 Player of the Year award.