BOX SCORE OAKDALE, N.Y. – Eight different players recorded a kill for the University of New Haven women’s volleyball team as the Chargers swept host Dowling on Friday night by set scores of 25-22, 25-16 and 25-23. Keidy Candelaria (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico/Bayamon Military Academy) led the balanced attack with nine kills.
 
With their fifth-straight victory – all sweeps for New Haven – the Chargers improve to 8-1. The Golden Lions, who were the No. 2 seed in last season’s NCAA Division II East Region Championship, fall to 9-6.
 
Amber Cannady (Yonkers, N.Y./Charles E. Gorton) registered seven kills for New Haven, and Kristen Lee (Colorado Springs, Colo./Liberty) added five. Kristy Atufunwa (Denver, Colo./Denver East) posted four finishers, Ashley Dalton (Helena, Mont./Capital / Northern Arizona University) had three and Margo Meteyer (Madison, Wis./Madison West) and Hayley Wilson (Denver, Colo./Overland) each posted one. As a team, the Chargers hit .187 (33-16-91) in the match.
 
Setter Kaulana Ane (Paia, Hawai'i/Kamehameha) ran the offense and distributed 29 assists in addition to three kills of her own on six errorless swings.
 
The defensive effort was also balanced with Lee posting a team-best six digs. Ane had five from the back row, and Bai Zhang (China/Shan Dong Zi Bo No. 10 / China Shan Dong Normal University) added four. At the net, Atufunwa had a hand in five of New Haven’s seven blocks.
 
Meteyer and Ane each landed two aces for the Chargers, and Lee and Candelaria had one winner apiece.
 
Dowling’s Bethany Shepard led all players with 11 kills. Kayla Dillman and Mirjana Radovanovic shared setting duties for the Golden Lions and dished out 17 and 14 assists, respectively, and Morgan Mutranowski posted a match-high 14 digs.
 
Dowling was the first team to 20 points in set one, grabbing a 20-16 lead, but the Chargers rallied and finished the set on a 5-1 run to claim a 25-22 decision and take an early lead in the match.
 
New Haven’s most dominant performance came in the second set, snapping an early 9-9 deadlock by winning five consecutive rallies to take a 14-9 advantage. The lead grew as large as nine points in the set, and an Atufunwa kill finished off a 25-16 victory.
 
Another comeback was in order in set three, as the Golden Lions built an early 11-4 advantage to force a New Haven timeout. The Chargers fired back with a 10-2 stretch to grab a 14-13 lead. The squads traded points up to a 20-20 score, where New Haven scored the next two points and never looked back to polish off the sweep with a 25-23 triumph.
 
A three-match homestand begins tomorrow at Charger Gym with a 1 p.m. visit from Franklin Pierce. New Haven then hosts Southern Connecticut State on Oct. 2 and closes the stretch on Oct. 5 against LIU Post.