WATERBURY, Conn. -- Down the stretch for Post University Women's Volleyball it has been about finding a way to drum up momentum heading into the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament which starts next Tuesday. After taking down regionally-ranked Pace University on Wednesday, the Eagles returned home to close out the regular season in the Drubner Center for Senior Day.
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Facing a Georgian Court University team who found out last night they would get into the CACC Tournament after Holy Family University dropped their matchup to the University of Bridgeport in five sets, the Eagles put together a gutsy effort against the Lions, winning in five sets, 3-2.
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THE BASICS
Post University 3, Georgian Court University 2
Post University (8-23, 7-9 CACC)
Georgian Court University (14-12, 8-8 CACC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
A historic first set for the Eagles saw sophomore libero
Alyssa Groves reach the 1,000-career dig mark in just two seasons with Post after notching seven digs to open the match. The seventh dig would come with the match tied at 22 all, giving the Eagles the momentum they needed to get across the finish line with a 26-24 win. After an exchange of kills from both sides, Head Coach
Tiffany Verni would call a timeout and on the ensuing play Post would score the next two points via service error by graduate libero Jessica Sprankle and a kill from junior setter
Colleen Romero.
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In matches past, an early deficit for Post would seem unsurmountable but on Saturday in the second set it was a different story. After Georgian Court opened up a 5-1 lead and led by as many as six points, 10-4, the Eagles would slowly chip away to work their way back into the set. A 4-0 run saw Post pull within one, 13-12, after two kills from junior outside hitter
Caley Harper, a kill from junior middle hitter
Niah Mesidor, and an attack error. Cracking open another six-point lead, 19-13, a timeout from Verni would bring about a 4-0 run with three Lion errors.
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Still holding steady with the lead by three, 20-17, that would be when things shifted in favor of the Eagles who would go back-and-forth with Georgian Court until another 24 all tie came about. Similar to set one, a Sprankle error and then a service ace from Harper would clinch another 26-24 victory for Post, putting them on the cusp of their second straight win. Â
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With their backs against the wall, the Lions would trail early on, 6-2, but fight their way back into the third set by scoring eight of the next 12 points to tie it up at 10 apiece. Continuing what would be a 6-0 run, Georgian Court would lead for the first time by three, a lead that would eventually balloon to five points, 22-17, putting the Lions on the verge of forcing a fourth set.
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Down by three, 23-20, the Eagles would use their home-court advantage to pull within two and then with just one point to spare, rip off a 3-0 run to put themselves ahead, 25-24, needing just one point for the sweep. But a 3-0 run in response with a kill from junior middle hitter Chelsea Ross and two errors from junior outside hitter
Kaila Sandy, helped give the Lions set three, 27-25.
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A wire-to-wire fourth set saw Georgian Court take the lead and never look back, going up by 10 points, 15-5, after taking an early 3-2 lead over Post. Attacking at a strong .270 hitting percentage compared to a .108 hitting percentage for the Eagles, the Lions would force a decisive fifth and final set with a 25-17 win which was capped off by an attack error from Mesidor after Post briefly went on a 6-1 run that saw them cut their deficit to six points in the set.
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A quick 4-0 run to lead off the fifth set for the Eagles behind two service aces from senior setter
Izabella Rae, a Harper kill, and Lions' attack error forced a Georgian Court timeout by Head Coach Shana Rayside. Out of that timeout, back-to-back digs for
Alyssa Groves gave her 26 on the day, setting the single-season record set by Jen Giarratano at 583 digs back in 2004 while Post would go up 6-0. That strong start would be all the Eagles needed as they would go on to take set five, 15-5, and finish off the regular season with a five-set win over the Lions.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Sophomore libero Alyssa Groves finished with 28 digs, reaching 1,000 career digs in only her second season – Groves surpassed the single-season dig record set by Jen Giarratano (583) back in 2004 with her performance
- With 26 kills in the match, Caley Harper now has 20 matches this season with double-digit kill marks – this was Harper's third match this season with 20-plus kills and broke her career-high of 21 kills set against Felician University and is the most kills in a match by an Eagle since Madelynn Boops' 30 kills against Caldwell in 2021
- This is the second time this season in which Post University has gone on a two-game winning streak
- The victory over Georgian Court snaps a three-game losing streak for Post University in the head-to-head matchup and three-game home losing streak against the Lions
WHO'S NEXT
As the fourth seed in the North Division, Post University will face Jefferson University who is the top seed in the South Division on Tuesday evening at 6:00 PM down in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the CACC Tournament Quarterfinals. While each of the last two regular season matchups have ended in the Eagles being swept, the last time these two teams met in the CACC Tournament, Post nearly upset the Rams in the same position as this year, going up 2-1 before dropping the final two sets.
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