GARDEN CITY, N.Y. –  With the regular season complete, the University of New Haven Women's Volleyball team finished as the sixth seed in the conference tournament. After finishing as the conference runner ups a year ago, the blue and golds road to a conference crown began with a Thursday night matchup against the third seeded Adelphi Panthers in New York. In their second matchup of the season the Chargers revenge tour and road to the conference crown began against the Panthers.

Series History

In the Chargers last trip to Adelphi, back in 2021 the blue and gold left with a 3-1 win and looked to repeat that result in this trip and punch their ticket to the conference semifinals. In the regular season  matchup, the Panthers traveled to Chargers Gymnasium in October and took the match 3-1 over New Haven breaking the Chargers two match win streak against Adelphi. In the match for the Chargers, Macy Brown (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) led the way with a double double of 15 kills and 18 digs, as Sophia Leon-Tabor (Fort Myers, Fla./Fort Myers) added 31 assists and 2 aces with Avery Moore (Zionsville, Ind./Zionsville Community High School) adding in nine kills. Brown coming off being named Conference Player of the Week in the final weekly awards of the regular season looks to lead her Chargers team on the road in the postseason and looks to the freshman trio of Avery Moore (Zionsville, Ind./Zionsville Community High School), Amihan Johnson (Tacoma, Wash./Fife High School) and Kylie Reynolds-Martin (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) who have emerged as key scorers for the blue and gold to spread the attack along with senior Emily Barry (Freeport, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) who added six kills in the first meeting.    

After taking the bus ride and getting off the Chargers wasted no time getting on the board first with Itzel Cruz (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Notre Dame) serving first and finding space on the floor for an ace to put the blue and gold up 1-0. Kylie Reynolds-Martin (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) added to the scoring, beating the defense of Adelphi with a kill off the assist from Sophia Leon-Tabor (Fort Myers, Fla./Fort Myers) before New Haven retook the lead off a Panthers error. Leon-Tabor found Avery Moore (Zionsville, Ind./Zionsville Community High School) to set up Moore's first kill of the set and match before she added her third assist finding Macy Brown (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) to pick up her first kill of the match and cut into the Panthers lead. Brown's kill started the Chargers scoring streak which included a kill from Amihan Johnson (Tacoma, Wash./Fife High School) and two service aces from Sammie Paguia (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge) to make it a three point set at the midway point. Emily Barry (Freeport, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) picked up her first kill of the match to get the Chargers to 12 before Macy Brown (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) added her second kill a point after Barry's. Down late the Chargers started a streak that started with an Avery Moore (Zionsville, Ind./Zionsville Community High School) kill before Brown went back to back with kills to cut the lead to six. After a service error by the Panthers gave the serve back to Sammie Paguia (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge) and the Chargers, it was Adelphi that picked up the point to take the opening set 25-18 and go up 1-0 in the match. Looking to even the match at one all, Emily Barry (Freeport, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) opened up the scoring in the second with a kill to give New Haven the early lead. The Chargers capitalized on errors by the Panthers and Macy Brown (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) with a big kill tied the second set at seven. Macy Brown (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) and Emily Barry (Freeport, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) combined for three kills to keep things close before the Chargers forced three straight errors by Adelphi to hold it to a three point set. After two points by the Panthers, Kylie Reynolds-Martin (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) broke the rhythm of Adelphi up with a kill to stay within four and Macy Brown (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) added another kill in the set but it was Adelphi closing the set out with a kill to take the set 25-16 and go up 2-0 in the match. Down two sets with the pressure on New Haven looked to find their rhythm in the third set. The blue and golds first point came off forcing an error on the Panthers before Macy Brown (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) added the second point and third points to the board. New Haven looked to Brown and senior Emily Barry (Freeport, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) to lead the way in the third. Head coach Christa Cooper looked to run the offense through the duo that had been in this situation before, making it to the Conference Finals a year ago and making it to the NCAA Regional Tournament as well. Barry added the fourth point and started a New Haven scoring streak that saw Barry and Johnson combine for a block before the serve went to Brown who picked her spot and made it a three point set with a service ace. Barry set Brown up for a a kill to win back serve and then capitalized on another Adelphi error. Emily Barry (Freeport, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) who had worked all night at the net added another block combining with Reynolds-Martin before it was Reynolds-Martin with back to back kills off the assist from Leon-Tabor to keep the pressure on Adelphi. Macy Brown (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) added her 12th kill of the match to win the serve for Sammie Paguia (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge) who forced an error on the Panthers. Amihan Johnson (Tacoma, Wash./Fife High School) rose up at the net for a block but the Panthers scored the next two points to take the set 25-15 and win the match 3-0 and move on to the semifinals. Macy Brown (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) led all scorers with her 12 kills while adding seven digs and one service ace. Emily Barry (Freeport, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) finished with five kills and three blocks while Sophia Leon-Tabor (Fort Myers, Fla./Fort Myers) added 19 assists and defensively, Amihan Johnson (Tacoma, Wash./Fife High School) led with four blocks and Carleigh Vedder (Moorhead, Minn./Moorhead) had eight digs to lead the blue and gold.   

Up Next

The Chargers return to West Haven and wait for Selection Sunday to find out their potential seeding for the NCAA East Regional Tournament. In the Regional Rankings released on November 9, New Haven was ranked 9th in the poll behind five conference opponents. The Chargers will be together on Sunday waiting for the Selection Show which will take place on Sunday Nov. 13 at 10:30 p.m. All updates schedules and tournament information for the team will be available at Newhavenchargers.com.