Fairfield, Conn. – It was a weekend sweep for the Sacred Heart women's volleyball team thanks in part to junior middle Emily Sawyer who closed out a four-set win for the Pioneers with a career-high 14 kills.
Also among the highlights for the Pioneers was graduate middle blocker Cristina Montanez who stuffed eight total blocks in the match, five of them solo, with the first of those eight giving her 300 total for her career. She added those eight blocks to seven kills.
Also among the leading hitters for the Pioneers was junior outside Lauren Hubert and first-year outside Abbie Hagedorn who each finished with a dozen kills. Among all the leading hitters, Sawyer led the night with a .524 attack percentage with her 14 kills coming on 21 attempts with just three errors.
Defensively, Hubert led all Sacred Heart players as she capped off a double double with 23 digs. Sophomore libero Milliani Villarreal followed with 16 digs, while Montanez's eight blocks were part of eight total for the Pioneers.
Records:
Sacred Heart: 10-18, 7-9 MAAC
Niagara: 11-13, 11-5 MAAC
Top Performers:
Emily Sawyer: 18 kills, .524 hitting percentage, 1 block
Abbie Hagedorn: 12 kills, .321 hitting percentage, 12 digs
Lauren Hubert: 12 kills, 23 digs
Brielle Laferriere: 33 assists
How it Happened:
Niagara opened up the match with the first point of the match and opened up an early 4-1 lead. Sacred Heart whittled away at that lead to eventually tie the match at seven, eight and nine before taking their first lead of the set at 10-9 on a Purple Eagles error. Four more ties would follow, the last of which came at 15-15 before Niagara scored six of the next seven points to open up a 21-16 lead. The Pioneers made a late run with three-straight points before the Purple Eagles closed out the opening set with a 25-21 victory.
Niagara again opened up the scoring in the second set, this time opening up a 3-0 lead before the Pioneers responded with their own four-point rally to flip the score. The Purple Eagles would regain a lead at 11-10 before back-to-back kills from Sawyer reversed the lead back to the Pioneers for what was the final lead change of the set.
Sacred Heart followed that with a 6-1 rally that opened up an 18-13 lead and forced a Purple Knights timeout. The Pioneers would build their lead out to as much as seven at 23-16 before Sawyer closed out the set with back-to-back kills for a 25-18 match tying win.
Just like the first two sets, the Purple Eagles opened up set to an early 4-1 lead. Sacred Heart battled back to knot the score at eight during a three-point rally that led to the first Pioneer lead at 9-8 courtesy of a Short kill. Another three-point rally followed, this one allowing the Pioneers to open up a 12-9 lead.
Niagara would then answer a 14-11 deficit by scoring four-straight to flip the score in its favor at 15-14. That Purple Eagles lead didn't last long as SHU answered by taking the next three points and a 17-15 lead that forced the visitors to call a timeout. Niagara battled to knot the score at 18, the first of seven ties over the next 13 points which forced a win-by-two scenario. The Pioneers would come out on top following back-to-back kills from Hagedorn and Montanez to take the 2-1 lead in the match.
Keeping with the earlier pattern, Niagara opened up the fourth set to a 4-1 lead with the Pioneers managing to pull back within a single point twice before answering another three-point deficit with six unanswered that resulted in an 11-8 lead and a timeout for Niagara. Montanez would provide the offense that forced the timeout with an over-pass stuff.
After the Pioneers used a block of Sawyer and Short to take a 13-9 lead, the Purple Eagles fought back to scored seven of the next eight points to flip the score in their favor at 16-14. Sacred Heart battled back to knot the score at 17 and 18 before closing out the match with their own rally consisting of 7-of-8 points to complete the match victory. Included in that late rally were back-to-back kills from Montanez and Hagedorn which was followed by a Hubert ace. After another Hagedorn kill, it would be back-to-back hitting errors on Niagara that closed out the match and the weekend sweep.
Up Next:
The Pioneers will head on the road to close out the regular season with two matches against Manhattan and Iona next weekend. First on the docket will match the Pioneers up with the Iona Gaels on Friday, November 14 with first serve set for 1:00 p.m. All of the action in the MAAC battle will air live on ESPN+.
