COLCHESTER, Vt. – The University of New Haven volleyball team secured sole possession of its eighth Northeast-10 Conference regular season title on Friday, defeating the Saint Michael's Purple Knights in straight sets (25-14, 25-10, 28-26). With the win, the Chargers improve to 19-7 overall on the season and remain undefeated in conference play at 13-0 and look to secure their seventh undefeated regular season since joining the NE10 when they take on Saint Anselm Saturday at 12:00 p.m. in Manchester, N.H.
Leading the Blue and Gold on the night was senior Caroline Martins (Tres Pontas, Brazil) who finished with 11 kills, her sixth-straight and 14th match of the season in double figures. Overall, she was the only Chargers in double figures, while she was joined by freshman Kali Greathead (Temecula, Calif./Temecula Valley) and junior Kristine Rios (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef) in leading the offense, each finishing with nine kills. Senior Fernanda da Silva (Belo Horizonte, Brazil/Colegio Berlaar Sao Pascoal) rounded out the top hitter for New Haven, finishing with seven kills for the second straight match.
As a team, New Haven finished the match hitting .315 with a combined 47 kills and 12 errors in 111 total attempts. Individually, senior Alex Bussey (Atlanta, Ga./Pace Academy) led the hitting efforts with a .444 average as she finished with five kills in nine attempts with a single error. Among the leading hitters on the night, Greathead led the way with a .364 average with her nine kills coming on 22 attempts with just one miscue.
The Chargers also combined to score eight points on service aces with freshman setter Angela Chan (Jacksonville, Fla./Bishop Kenny) leading the team with three, while the remaining five all came from different players. Chan also added 13 assists in the 6-2 offense for New Haven.
Defensively, New Haven was led by Rios, who completed a double double with her team-high 17 digs added to 22 assists. Joining Rios in double figures defensively was junior libero Lindsey Kim (Rye Brook, N.Y./Blind Brook) who finished with 15.
