BOX SCORE WALTHAM, Mass. – Faced with an 8-1 deficit in set five, the University of New Haven women's volleyball team closed the gap and then fought off three match points en route to a come-from-behind 3-2 victory at Bentley on Saturday afternoon.

With the win, the Chargers are the lone remaining unbeaten team in Northeast-10 play at 7-0. New Haven's fourth-straight win and second consecutive five-set triumph improves its overall record to 16-4. Bentley falls to 12-7 on the season with a 6-1 NE-10 mark. The match was decided by set scores of 16-25, 25-23, 25-12, 25-17 and 16-14.
 
Amber Cannady (Yonkers, N.Y./Charles E. Gorton) led the Charges' offense with 14 kills. Fellow middle hitter Kristy Atufunwa (Denver, Colo./Denver East) added 13 on .435 hitting, and Ashley Dalton (Helena, Mont./Capital / Northern Arizona University) rounded out the production from the middle with nine finishers. Kristen Lee (Colorado Springs, Colo./Liberty) headed the attacking effort on the outside with eight kills, while Margo Meteyer (Madison, Wis./Madison West) landed four and Damianis Eusebio (Miramar, Fla./University School) notched two. Kaulana Ane (Paia, Hawai'i/Kamehameha) had two kills from the setter spot in addition to handing out 35 assists. Annika Hacker (Bayreuth, Germany/Littleton (Colo.)) supplemented Ane with 10 assists, as New Haven collectively hit .193.
 
Defensively, Kea-Marie Olaso (Kailua, Hawai'i/Le Jardin Academy) had a match-high 37 digs. Lee added 15 digs and Meteyer picked up 10 from the back row. At the net, Cannady had a hand in four of the Chargers' six team blocks. The lone New Haven ace was served by Hacker.
 
The Falcons got a match-best 19 kills from Savannah Dominguez. Alex Tator led all players with 50 assists for Bentley, and Lauren Colasanti had a team-high 24 digs. Bentley hit .192 with five service aces and eight team blocks.
 
After the hosts took the first set, 25-16, the Chargers rallied to a set-two win. New Haven trailed 21-18 in the frame before three-straight attacking errors and a Dalton kill put UNH on top, 22-21. Bentley regained the lead at 23-22 but would not score again as a Meteyer kill sealed the 25-23 win for the Chargers to even the match at 1-1.
 
New Haven scored the first four points of set three and rolled to a 25-12 decision, but the Falcons returned the favor with an early 8-0 spurt in set four en route to a 25-17 win to send the match to a fifth and final frame.
 
Bentley carried its momentum into the deciding set, racing to an 8-1 advantage. However, the Chargers followed with an 8-3 stretch to cut the deficit to a more manageable 11-9 margin. The Falcons earned their first match-point opportunity at 14-11 before a Cannady block and consecutive setting errors ended the threat and knotted the match at 14-14. New Haven completed the comeback with consecutive kills by Lee and Cannady to take a 16-14 decision in the set and a 3-2 win in the match.
 
Today was also the finale of the Chargers' 2013 Dig Lavender campaign. Prior to the match, a donation was presented by the UNH women's volleyball program to Bentley head coach Sandy Hoffman, who is battling Adrenocortical Carcinoma Cancer. The funds raised from the Dig Lavender campaign will be donated in honor of Coach Hoffman to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
 
New Haven continues Northeast-10 play this Tuesday, Oct. 29 with a 7 p.m. visit from Pace. The match will be broadcast live in high definition and free of charge on NewHavenChargers.com.