NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Sacred Heart University women's volleyball team got in the win column on Saturday afternoon with a gritty 3-1 victory over Rhode Island to close out the Yale Invitational.
Records:
Sacred Heart: 1-7
Rhode Island: 1-8
Top Performers:
Camryn Luginbuhl: 16 kills, 13 digs, 3 aces, 3 blocks
Gaby Zovko: 29 assists, 16 digs, 7 kills
Dominique Felix: 13 kills, .286 hitting percentage, 4 blocks
Jasmine Rogers: 20 digs
How It Happened:
The Rams came out buzzing in the first set, storming to a 10-2 lead after 12 points. As would become a theme in the match, SHU fought back, cutting its deficit to two, 12-10, after an 8-2 push. Runs by both teams kept the margin at two, 19-17, in the Rams' favor. URI built its advantage up to four, 22-18, and had a set point at 24-19.
Facing a loss in the first, the Pioneers put together an incredible 6-0 run to take a set point of their own at 25-24.
Sloane Rooney dropped a pair of aces on the Rams in the run to go along with blocks from
Cristina Montanez and
Gaby Zovko, and a kill from
Dominique Felix. The teams began to trade points before SHU slammed the door shut on a 29-27 win with back-to-back kills by Zovko and
Camryn Luginbuhl.
The start of the second set favored the Pios, as they held a 6-3 advantage after the opening nine points. Both teams then started to put together mini surges until the Rams found themselves ahead 17-14. Some more back-and-forth play ensued until the Rams again had set point at 24-22. Sacred Heart fought off two set points and won the frame by going on a 4-0 run. The duo of
Emily Sawyer and
Gracie DiNardo commanded the net to earn SHU the win, tallying two blocks each in the final push.
Rhode Island opened the third set by winning four of the first five points before the Pioneers answered with a 7-4 run to knot the set at 8-8. SHU rode that momentum into winning five of the next seven points, which the Rams answered with a 4-1 run to tie the score at 14-14. After some even action, SHU held a 20-19 lead, but URI put together a 6-0 surge to win the third 25-20.
Sacred Heart shot out of the gates in the fourth, taking seven of the first 10 points. From there, the Rams began to chip away at the advantage before tying the score at 13-all. The Pios got back into the lead a little later with a 5-0 push to go ahead by four, 21-17. SHU comfortably ended the set and the match by winning four of the final six points to earn its first win of the 2023 season.
The Pios tallied a season-high 15 blocks as a team, SHU's highest block mark since 2019. Sawyer led the Pioneers with nine block assists, while Montanez had seven. Luginbuhl (16k, 13d) and Zovko (29a, 14d) each finished the match with double-doubles, the first time two Pios did so in the same contest this season. Zovko is up to six double-doubles this year, with one in each of the last four matches. Luginbuhl, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, tallied her first double-double of the year and her ninth as a Pioneer. Felix's 13 kills tonight is a new season-high.
Up Next:
After playing four matches last week, the Pios will get a short break before opening the Villanova Invitational on Friday, Sept. 15, with a 7 p.m. tilt against the Wildcats.
