BROOKLYN, N.Y. — New Haven volleyball traveled to Brooklyn for a two-match Northeast Conference series against LIU and left without a win, falling 3-0 in both contests. On Friday, the Chargers dropped set scores of 22-25, 16-25 and 17-25, hitting .239 in the opening set before being held to .000 in each of the final two. On Saturday, LIU won 25-22, 25-16 and 25-18, hitting .333 to New Haven's .216 as the Sharks recorded 41 kills to the Chargers' 38.
Lauren MacKellar (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./Northville) led the Blue & Gold in kills in both matches, with 12 on Friday and 11 on Saturday, as the team slipped to 8-12 overall and 4-2 in NEC play.
Game One
MacKellar led New Haven with 12 kills and added 11 digs.
Zaira Kearns (Fairway, Kan./Pembroke Hill) finished with 30 assists, four digs, one ace and one block assist,
Quinn Yenshaw (Williamsburg, Mich./St. Francis) added nine kills and one block assist and
Camryn Harris (Loveland, Ohio/Milford) collected 11 digs.
LIU scored the first five points of the opening set, getting kills from Bella Correia and Sara Garcia before an ace from Dilara Elmacioglu made it 5-0. The Chargers got going through MacKellar, who had multiple early kills, but LIU stretched the lead to 12-4 and later held an 18-12 advantage.
New Haven pushed back with five of the next six points, using kills from
Marley Alefaio (Lakewood, Wash./Lakes) and MacKellar and a block by Alefaio and
Kira Lynch (Dallastown, Pa./Dallastown Area) to cut the deficit to 19-17. LIU moved back in front at 24-19, and although MacKellar and Yenshaw helped the Blue & Gold fight off three set points, Garcia's final kill closed the set for LIU, 25-22.
LIU put the Chargers in an early hole in the second set, scoring the first eight points with Correia at the service line for seven of them after Garcia's opening kill. The Blue & Gold got on the board with a
Josie Foster (Brisbane, Australia/Kelvin Grove State College) kill and later cut the deficit to 12-7 on an LIU service error and a Kearns ace.
New Haven moved within 13-10 as Foster and Lynch combined on a block and LIU committed two attack errors. LIU answered with four straight points to move ahead 17-10, and although MacKellar and Yenshaw had kills during a Chargers push to 18-14, LIU followed with another four-point stretch capped by a pair of Blue & Gold attack errors for a 22-14 lead. The teams traded points late until Yasmeen Muhammad's kill set up set point and Correia finished the 25-16 set for LIU.
The Chargers stayed within 8-6 in the third set behind kills from Yenshaw, Alefaio and Foster, but LIU pushed ahead 16-9 after a Sara van Gisteren kill. The Blue & Gold responded with six straight points, starting with a Foster kill and continuing through MacKellar's serve, with Yenshaw and Foster combining on a block before Yenshaw's kill cut the margin to 16-15.
LIU answered with five consecutive points to build a 21-15 lead, and after the Chargers got points on two LIU service errors, LIU closed the set 25-17 and finished the match.
Game Two
New Haven Volleyball (8-12, 4-2 NEC) dropped a 3-0 NEC match to LIU (10-7, 6-0 NEC) on Saturday in Brooklyn, N.Y., as the Sharks won 25-22, 25-16 and 25-18. The Chargers finished with 38 kills and a .216 hitting percentage, while LIU totaled 41 kills and hit .333.
MacKellar led the Chargers with 11 kills and added five digs. Alefaio finished with 10 kills on 22 attacks. Kearns recorded 24 assists, seven digs, two block assists and one service ace.
Payton Malinoski (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport Township) collected a team-high eight digs and served two aces.
After the Chargers stayed even through the first 10 points, LIU moved from 10-8 to 13-8 on two Sara van Gisteren kills around a Sara Garcia service ace. The Blue & Gold answered with five straight points, as MacKellar started the run with a kill,
Josie Foster (Brisbane, Australia/Kelvin Grove State College) added two kills and a block with Yenshaw and Malinoski's ace tied the set at 13-13.
LIU went back in front 15-13 and stayed ahead through the sideout exchanges before reaching set point at 24-20 on a Mia Rojas-Avila kill. The Chargers extended the first set with kills by Yenshaw and Alefaio, but LIU closed it 25-22 on an attack error.
LIU opened the second set with three straight points, including a Dilara Elmacioglu service ace, before MacKellar delivered consecutive Chargers kills and Yenshaw added one to tie the set at 3-3. The Blue & Gold stayed within 8-7 after Malinoski's ace and a Yenshaw-Foster block, but LIU pushed the margin to 14-8 with help from back-to-back Rojas-Avila aces.
Alefaio had a kill, Kearns served an ace and an LIU attack error trimmed it to 16-13, but LIU scored the next five points behind a Garcia kill, an Elmacioglu ace and two van Gisteren kills to lead 21-13. MacKellar supplied three late kills for the Chargers, but LIU reached set point at 24-15 on Rojas-Avila's kill and took the second set 25-16 on a service error.
The Chargers stayed with LIU early in the third set, tying it at 8-8 on a
Kira Lynch (Dallastown, Pa./Dallastown Area) kill before moving ahead 9-8 on an LIU attack error. LIU answered with four straight points to take a 12-9 lead, and after kills by MacKellar and Yenshaw kept the Blue & Gold within 13-11, LIU put together six consecutive points to stretch the margin to 19-11.
The Chargers responded with a four-point run, getting a
Jordan Northcutt (Weatherford, Texas/Weatherford) kill, a Yenshaw ace, an Alefaio kill and another Northcutt kill to pull within 19-15. LIU came back with three straight points, including a Reese Teves ace, and held off later Chargers kills by Northcutt and Alefaio to close the third set 25-18.
Up Next
New Haven will host Stonehill College on Friday, Oct. 23, at 6 p.m. at The Hazell Center in West Haven, Conn.
