Box Score SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Trailing two sets to zero to Bryant for the second time this season, the Sacred Heart women's volleyball team could not complete comeback against the Bulldogs, falling five sets on Sunday afternoon at Chace Athletic Center. With the result, Bryant, along with LIU Brooklyn, now have a half game lead over SHU in the Northeast Conference standings. The Bulldogs and Blackbirds stand at 9-2 in league play with the Pioneers falling to 8-2 and 14-10 overall.
After erasing the two set deficit with 25-23 and 25-17 victories in the third and fourth set, Sacred Heart led the entire fifth set until Bryant scored the final three points of the match, all on Pioneer errors. SHU led by as many as two points eight different times, including after a
Sarah Krufka kill made it 11-9.
A day after becoming the fourth Pioneer in school history to surpass 1,000 career kills, Krufka led the match with 29. No other player had more than 17. She hit .318 on the afternoon and tied a career high with six block assists. Allison Riggs also had six block assists while adding a season-high 11 kills. Also in double figures for kills was Tori Kemper, who contributed 12 to go along with 10 digs for her fifth double double of the season.
Kiki Robinson also finished with a double double to tie teammate Bruna Bon with a team-high nine for the season. Robinson tallied a team-high 42 assists to go along with 13 digs. The aforementioned Bon led the Pioneers with 17 digs.
Sacred Heart totaled 19 more kills than Bryant, but could not overcome the Bulldog block. The Bulldogs finished with 14 on the afternoon, led by a match-high eight from Ally Lunsford. Also with match-highs for Bryant was Debora Magalhaes with 26 digs and Vika Nesterov with 45 assists.
SHU will look to keep pace with Bryant and LIU Brooklyn next weekend with its final two home matches of the 2015 season. Robert Morris visits the William H. Pitt Center on Saturday for a 6 pm start before the home finale against Saint Francis U on Sunday at 1 pm.
How it Happened
- First Set – Leading by as much as much as seven early, 13-6, SHU fell victim to a 14-7 Bryant run to tie the set for just a second time at 20. After back-to-back kills from Bon and Krufka reestablished a two point lead, the Bulldogs scored the next four points for their first lead of set. The Pioneers staved off two set points with a kill by Riggs and Bulldog error, but Bryant scored the final two points of the set for a 26-24 triumph.
- Second Set – Once again it was Sacred Heart taking an early lead, 5-1, before Bryant went on another big run, 17-6 to go up 18-11. SHU got as close as three, 18-15, with a kill by Riggs and three straight kills by Krufka, but could get no closer the remainder of the set.
- Third Set - Much like the second, SHU went ahead 5-1 early, and 10-6 later, only to find themselves down 18-17 after 12-7 Bulldog surge. From there, the Pioneers would score three straight, as a Katie Direnzo kill fell in between two Bryant errors. The Bulldogs would get as close as one three times, the last coming at 24-23, but a Krufka kill would send the match to a fourth set.
- Fourth Set- This time it was Sacred Heart bouncing back from an early deficit. Down 6-2, the Pioneers scored 18 of the next 24 points to take a 20-12 lead and cruise to forcing a fifth set. Six different SHU players registered a kill in the stretch, led by Kemper with four.
