CALDWELL, N.J. - The Caldwell College volleyball team dropped an exciting match to Southern Connecticut State University, 14-25, 25-21, 16-25, 25-21, 15-13 Monday evening in the George R. Newman Center. The result comes just three weeks after the Owls easily handled the Cougars in three straight sets in New Haven, Conn., on Sept. 2. Caldwell falls to 3-5 with the non-conference loss, while SCSU improves to 15-3 with its eighth consecutive victory.
The Cougars cruised to a 25-14 win in the first set, hitting a blazing .652 with 15 kills and no errors. Freshman right side Amber Mosher (Flanders, NJ/Mount Olive) terminated all five of her attempts in the set, while sophomore middle blocker Keesha Fancois (Elkins Park, PA/Cheltenham) and freshman setter Lauren Roth (Findlay, OH/Findlay) each had three kills. Caldwell trailed for most of the second set, but came back from as many as six points down to pull within one, 22-21. The Owls finished off the set with three straight points to tie the match at 1-1.
In the third set, the Cougars tallied 11 kills to just five for SCSU to win 25-16 and move to within one set of the upset victory. But the Owls answered with 13 kills and a .306 hitting percentage in the fourth set for a 25-21 win that forced a fifth and deciding set. Momentum stayed on the visitor's side early in the set, as the Owls jumped out to a 7-1 lead. But Caldwell did not let up, scoring seven of the next eight points to make the score 8-7 SCSU. The two teams alternated points on the next 12 serves, with the Cougars holding off match point once. But with the Owls leading 14-13, Caldwell was unable to tie the match on its serve as SCSU finished off the match with a kill for a 15-13 win.
Mosher, pictured, led the Cougars with 16 kills to go with 14 digs for her first career double-double. Freshman middle blocker Titilola Alao (Ossining, NY/Ossining) hit .500 with 13 kills, while Roth had nine kills and a .571 hitting percentage. Roth, who was named the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Player of the Week earlier today, also dished out 35 assists and had two service aces. Defensively the Cougars averaged 14.4 digs per set, led by 20 digs from senior outside hitter Laura Ciesla (Chicago, IL/Lane Tech), 15 by sophomore libero Kathleen Estes (Lyndhurst, NJ/Lyndhurst), 14 by Mosher and 12 by sophomore outside hitter Cory Roesing (Secaucus, NJ/Secaucus).
For the Owls, Broghan Miller tallied 16 kills and 13 digs, Jenna Tammel had 13 kills and 13 digs, and Leah Filonuk added 12 kills. Andrea Nolan recorded 36 assists, with libero Robin Priest anchoring the defense with 19 digs.
Next up for Caldwell is a CACC contest at Post University on Tuesday, Sept. 23, beginning at 7:00 p.m. in Waterbury, Conn.
CC - 25 21 25 21 13
SCSU - 14 25 16 25 15
