BOX SCORE WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The University of New Haven women’s volleyball team completed its fifth-consecutive perfect Northeast-10 regular season on Friday evening with a sweep of visiting Bentley. The victory extended the Chargers’ winning streak to 21 matches.
With the win by set scores of 25-22, 25-23 and 25-15, the Chargers wrap up the regular season at 24-1 overall and 15-0 in the Northeast-10. New Haven has won all 74 of its regular season NE-10 contests since joining the conference in 2008 en route to five-consecutive regular season titles.
The Chargers needed just 51 sets to complete their 15-0 NE-10 season – breaking their own record of 52 sets in 2009. New Haven is the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Northeast-10 Conference Championship and currently holds the No. 1 spot in the NCAA East Region Rankings. Bentley concludes its 2012 campaign at 11-19 on the season with a 6-9 conference tally.
Keidy Candelaria (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico/Bayamon Military Academy) led all players with 11 kills, while
Kristen Lee (Colorado Springs, Colo./Liberty) posted 10 finishers and .563 hitting percentage (10-1-16).
Amber Cannady (Yonkers, N.Y./Charles E. Gorton) had six kills, and
Kristy Atufunwa (Denver, Colo./Denver East) notched four. As a team, the Chargers hit .253 (33-11-87).
Kaulana Ane (Paia, Hawai'i/Kamehameha) ran the offense and distributed 23 assists in addition to two kills of her own.
Defensively,
Kea-Marie Olaso (Kailua, Hawai'i/Le Jardin Academy) picked up a team-high 10 digs, while Lee and
Bai Zhang (China/Shan Dong Zi Bo No. 10 / China Shan Dong Normal University) had seven apiece from the back row. At the net,
Ashley Dalton (Helena, Mont./Capital / Northern Arizona University) had a hand in four of the Chargers’ seven team blocks.
Candelaria, who leads the Northeast-10 in service aces, landed four in the match. Ane tallied three aces and Zhang dropped in a pair of winners.
Bentley was led by 10 kills from Tatiana Froehlich. Kyana Miller distributed 27 assists for the Falcons, and Lauren Colasanti notched seven digs.
The Chargers erased an early 7-2 deficit in set one, rallying back to knot the score at 10-10. A 6-0 run soon followed as New Haven built a 17-11 advantage. This time, it was the Falcons who mounted a comeback, storming all the way back to a 22-21 lead. Bentley would not score again, however, as a kill and consecutive service aces from Candelaria brought the tally to set point, 24-22. Lee’s fifth kill on five swings ended the set and sent the Chargers to a 25-22 victory.
Bentley was the aggressor once again to open set two, opening up a 9-5 advantage. New Haven once again rallied to a 10-10 score, and the clubs began to trade points all the way to a 23-23 deadlock. The Chargers then made a run to take the set with a Bentley attack error and a Candelaria finisher sealing a 25-23 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
New Haven put the match away in the third set with an early 4-0 run to build a 6-3 lead that it would not relinquish. The lead grew as large as 10 points – which stood up as the margin of victory in a 25-15 triumph to complete the 3-0 sweep.
The Chargers, who are the No. 1 seed in the Northeast-10 Conference Championship, begin the postseason on Tuesday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. at Charger Gymnasium. Further details regarding the quarterfinal match against eighth-seeded Stonehill will be available on NewHavenChargers.com when they are finalized by the conference office.
