WATERBURY, Conn. – Graduate outside hitter Kristina Peric had a night to remember for Post University Women's Volleyball as the Eagles bounced back from their weekend loss against Holy Family University behind a career-high 27 kills by Peric en route to a thrilling five-set win over the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Champion University of Bridgeport, 3-2, on Tuesday night at the Drubner Center.

THE BASICS

Post University 3, University of Bridgeport 2

Post University (9-7, 4-1 CACC)

University of Bridgeport (10-7, 3-2 CACC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
In a back-and-forth set that featured 15 ties and four lead changes, the Eagles had their share of runs which helped them at one point go ahead by four, 18-14, before Bridgeport answered back with a 5-0 run that gave them the lead for good in a 25-22 set victory. While Post finished the set with 16 kills compared to the Purple Knight's 15 kills, the big difference came in the errors category where the Eagles had seven leading to a .184 attack percentage while Bridgeport had just one and attacked at a .311 clip.

But that would be the highest attack percentage the Purple Knights had all game while the Eagles improved from .184 in the first set to .268 and .323 over the next two sets which they captured by scores of 25-21 and 25-14. On the flip side, Bridgeport's attack percentage declined over the next two sets to .135 and .086 with 13 combined errors over that same stretch to just seven total for Post.

Capitalizing off 10 fourth set errors by the Eagles, the Purple Knights forced a decisive fifth set with a 25-19 set win and in set five took a 10-7 lead behind a 6-0 run while trailing 7-4 that looked like it would send them back to Bridgeport with the comeback victory. But senior outside hitter Caley Harper's two kills as part of a 4-0 run for Post and a 3-0 run led by Harper, senior setter Maria Fernanda Branco, and junior libero Alyssa Groves flipped the script on the set, giving the Eagles the win with the 15-12 victory.

Peric led the team with 27 kills and a .356 attack percentage, both of which were career high marks while Fernanda Branco had a career-high 41 assists and added 16 digs on top of that. As for Groves, she led all players with 26 digs on her quest for history.

On the Bridgeport side of things, senior outside hitter Paola Hernandez had a team-leading 20 kills while senior setter Jaden Drollinger recorded a game-high 48 assists, and three total Purple Knights finished with double-digit kill marks as well as five with double-digit digs.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Kristina Peric finished with a career-high 27 kills on 59 attempts with only six errors leading to a .356 attack percentage – The .356 attack percentage is also a career-high relative to the number of attempts she took which was also a career-high
• Alyssa Groves finished with 26 digs in today's match putting her at 1,459 in her career, she is currently second all-time in digs in program history chasing only Kerry Smith (2005-08) who owns the all-time record with 1,689 career digs
• When Post University's attack percentage is above .200 for an entire match, they remain 6-0 this season – When the Eagles attack below .200 as a team, they are now 3-7 overall, Post attacked at a .197 clip after the University of Bridgeport in the match 
• This was only the second time in program history in which Post University defeated the University of Bridgeport in a match – The first time came in 2022 on the road making this the first time they won a home match against the Purple Knights and is only the third time in program history in which they have gone five sets

 
WHO'S NEXT
Post University will head to St. Thomas Aquinas College on Thursday night at 6:00 PM for their final non-conference match of the regular season. This will be the first time since the 2002 season in which these two teams have faced each other. Back then, the Eagles and Spartans played two matches in 2002, both of which were won by Post in four sets on the road and then three sets at home.