WATERBURY, Conn – Coming off of a conference home win against Pace on Tuesday night, the University of New Haven Women's Volleyball team turned to a non-conference match against the Eagles of Post University in their first of two non-conference matchups for the Chargers before the blue and gold wrap up the season with conference play.
Series History
Returning to the road after a brief return to Charger Gymnasium the Chargers travel up to Post with a 10-8 record on the season looking to pick up their third straight win on the season. New Haven entering their 12 matchup with the Eagles has only ever dropped one match to the Eagles, back in 2016, when the Eagles beat the blue and gold at Charger Gymnasium. New Haven enters the matchup having won the previous four matches with the two teams last matchup coming in 2021 when the blue and gold traveled to Post and won in straight sets, 3-0. Looking to make it five in a row against the Eagles and three in a row on the season, the Chargers made the short trip to Waterbury and were ready to take on the Eagles for a weekday night matchup.
After trading the first eight points of the match, New Haven settled right into Drubner Center as the team all tied at four scored nine straight points capitalizing on errors by the Eagles and two kills from Macy Brown (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) along with a service ace from Itzel Cruz (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Notre Dame) to take an early 12-4 lead. Following a timeout by Post, the Eagles closed the gap. Brown and teammate Emily Barry (Freeport, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) extended the lead for the Chargers with a pair of kills by each, but the Eagles defended the nest taking a lead late in the opening set. Down by three head coach Christa Cooper called her final timeout of the set and New Haven and Kylie Reynolds-Martin (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) came out swinging earning a kill, but it was the Eagles scoring three of the next four to take the opening set 25-21, and just the first set Post has won against the Chargers since 2018. After switching sides of the court, and down a set, New Haven came out hot, as Sophia Leon-Tabor (Fort Myers, Fla./Fort Myers) led the way putting the first point on the board in the second set to go up 1-0. After Macy Brown (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) tied it back up at two, the Chargers put up three straight with a service ace from Brown and a kill from Reynolds-Martin. That was just what New Haven needed as they never trailed again in the set. The lead never grew above four but New Haven kept finding ways to get back up to four with aces from Carleigh Vedder (Moorhead, Minn./Moorhead), and kills from Emily Barry (Freeport, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy). Post rallied late and tied the set at 24 and took a lead for a moment, before New Haven led by Macy Brown (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) and two kills closed out the set scoring three straight and winning 27-25 and tying the match up at 1-1. Just like the previous two sets, the third was another hot start by New Haven, jumping out to a 3-1 lead before Post flew back into the lead and led the first half of the set. With three straight kills, two from Barry and one from Emma Lazerson (Stafford, Va./Colonial Forge) things were all tied at 14, but the Chargers were not finished scoring another four, apart of a seven point streak that was capped off with back to back service aces off the serving hand of Rilee Jessee (Edinburgh, Ind,/Columbus East) giving New Haven the 18-14 lead. Post put the pressure back on late tying it up twice but it was the Chargers digging in and with a kill from Reynolds-Martin to make it 24-22 Macy Brown (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) and Reynolds-Martin, combined for a block to force an error on the Eagles to take the set 25-22 and go up 2-1. Heading into the fourth and with the opportunity to close out the match, New Haven jumped out to an early 2-0 with Emily Barry (Freeport, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) opening up the set with a kill. With that start the Chargers never looked back, weathering the storms from Post never giving up the lead. Post tied the match at 16, but Macy Brown (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) had no intentions of staying in Waterbury any longer and started a five point scoring streak for the Chargers with a kill followed by Emily Barry (Freeport, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) recording a kill and ace to extend the lead and put things out of reach of the Eagles. Kylie Reynolds-Martin (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) closed out the set and match with a kill, winning the set 25-19 and taking the match 3-1. Emily Barry (Freeport, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) and Macy Brown (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) led all scorers with 17 kills each followed by Amihan Johnson (Tacoma, Wash./Fife High School) with nine. Rilee Jessee (Edinburgh, Ind,/Columbus East) added four service aces along with 17 digs while Brown led with 19. Sophia Leon-Tabor (Fort Myers, Fla./Fort Myers) facilitated 46 points in the win for the blue and gold.
Up Next
Now up to three in a row, the blue and gold return back to Charger Gymnasium to wrap up their non-conference schedule hosting Georgian Court following a rare weekend off of match play. New Haven hosts the Lions on Tuesday night with tip off coming on the Charger Sports Network and NE10Now at 6:00 p.m and all live stats and post game stories available at NewHavenChargers.com.
