WEST HAVEN, Conn. – For the first time of the 2023 season, the University of New Haven Women's Volleyball team played in front of their home crowd as the Chargers opened up their four match home stand against the Golden Falcons of Felician University. Following nine matches on the road to start the year, head coach Ana Pego made her debut and the blue and gold put on a show in front of their friends and family.
The Chargers jumped out early and never looked back setting the tone early going on a 5-0 scoring run to open the set as freshman Katherine Rank (Parker, Colo./Ponderosa) opened all the scoring with a kill. With the early lead the blue and gold spread the wealth around as it was the freshmen making an early impact following in the footsteps of Macy Brown (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) that continued her dominance on the court. The Chargers increased their lead to six forcing Felician to call an early timeout but the break didn't slow down the Chargers who scored four of the first five points. New Haven continued their run as Michelle Henwood (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Academia Maria Reina) got the blue and gold to set point before forcing an error on the Golden Falcons to close out the set winning 25-13. Rank, Henwood and Brown each had three kills in the opening set. In the second set New Haven carried the momentum over from the first jumping out to another early lead and never looking back. Just like in the first New Haven forced Felician to call an early timeout trying to turn the momentum, but the Chargers were having none of that extending their lead through big scoring streaks including a six point streak to close out the set with Grace Juergens (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Township) serving all of the closing points and closing the set with a service ace giving New Haven a 2-0 lead in the match with their 25-11 win. With the lead looking to finish the sweep, New Haven stayed on the front foot in the third set dominating again keeping the Golden Falcons in single digits as Juergens serving again with set and match point, forced an error by Felician as New Haven won the third 25-9 and winning the match 3-0. The freshman duo of Rank and Juergens each had seven kills with Macy Brown (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) as the trio led all scorers in the match. Michelle Henwood (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Academia Maria Reina) led with 27 assists and Rilee Jessee (Edinburgh, Ind,/Columbus East) added 12 digs.
The home stand continues for New Haven as they return to the court for a doubleheader on Saturday as they take on cross town rival Southern Connecticut State in their opening match with tip off at 12:00pm followed by a matchup against the Spartans of East Stroudsburg following the match against the Owls. Tip off from Charger Gymnasium is scheduled for 12:00pm with match two scheduled for 3:30 pm on the Charger Sports Network and NE10 NOW and all updates, schedules, and post-game recaps for the team will be available at Newhavenchargers.com.
