NEW HAVEN, Conn. –  With two games back-to-back after opening up their season the other night at Mercy, Post University Women's Volleyball looked to build off their season-opening thriller against Queens College (N.Y.) and Southern Connecticut State University down in New Haven this afternoon.

Looking to take care of the Knights just after they finished their first match of the day against the Owls, the Eagles were unable to seal the deal up two sets to one, falling in five sets, 3-2, before regrouping for their first sweep against Southern Connecticut since 2015, 3-0, to head home still above .500 as their home slate in the Drubner Center kicks off on Wednesday.
 
THE BASICS

Post University 2, Queens College (N.Y.)  3

Post University 3, Southern Connecticut State University 0

Post University (2-1)

Queens College (N.Y.) (4-0)

Southern Connecticut State University (0-4)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Post University 2, Queens College (N.Y.) 3
Outside of the fifth set, both sides manufactured dominant set wins in each of the two they captured in the match. While the Eagles held an early 12-9 lead in set one, a 9-1 run off four Eagle attack errors and two service aces from freshman setter Madi Hathaway flipped momentum the way of Queens (N.Y.) for the 25-16 set one win.

Then it was Post's turn to dominate with a quick 4-0 run off the back of three Knights' errors to start set two which they never looked back from. While Queens (N.Y.) got within two, 13-11, another run with five of the next six points did the damage the Eagles needed to take a 25-14 set two win and keep the good times rolling in a wire-to-wire set three win, 25-18, putting them on the brink of victory.

Like the other night at Mercy, Post struggled in set four with a game-worst eight errors and a -.059 attack percentage that was more than enough to allow the Knights to force a pivotal fifth set behind a 25-12 victory. Graduate outside hitters Kristina Peric and Sara Enright recorded a kill each around a pair of Queens (N.Y.) errors as part of a 4-0 run that made it a 9-5 lead in the decisive set for the Eagles.

But down the stretch, critical errors would doom Post as four attack errors, two service errors, and a bad set turned a four-point lead into a two-point deficit, 14-12, that put the Knights on the brink of victory which they would get, 15-13, after a kill from right-side hitter Alicia Cervera to steal the match and remain undefeated this season.

Peric had a team and game-high 13 kills to go along with her 14 digs as four Post players notched double-digit digs including her, Enright (19), junior libero Lynnise Castillo (11), and junior libero Alyssa Groves (20). Hathaway led the Knights with 10 kills and 19 digs as well as a .269 attack percentage and five players from Queens tallied double-digit digs for them in their second victory of the day.

Post University 3, Southern Connecticut State University 0 
It was a full team effort in game two to get the three-set sweep as senior outside hitter Caley Harper led the way with 12 kills on 31 attempts for a .323 attack percentage along with seven digs. But four different Eagles had attack percentages above .300 as senior middle hitter Hannah Brandt was at .533 with nine kills, Peric tallied nine more kills with a .368 hitting percentage, and senior setter Izabella was right at the .500 mark with four kills on eight attempts along with 10 assists.

Across the entire match, the Eagles only trailed five times and never by more than two points. In fact, three of those five deficits came in set one while the other two were spread out across the final two sets of the match. Cleaning things up from their match against Queens (N.Y.) in which they had 27 errors, Post had just 10 errors across three sets and had a team attacking percentage of .269 which included a .444 percentage in set three.

Freshman outside hitter Raegen Emery led the Owls with 13 kills and 10 digs, she was the only player on Southern Connecticut to record double-digits in either category for the match. For Post, Groves yet again led in digs with 15 more while senior setter Maria Fernanda Branco tacked on 21 more assists to bring her total for the afternoon up to 38 across the eight sets she played in.

The Eagles took sets one and two by identical 25-21 scores before taking set three in commanding fashion, 25-16, to complete the 3-0 sweep and split of the tri-match.


BY THE NUMBERS

• Kristina Peric once again led the way for Post with a combined 22 kills in both matches – Peric now has a team-high 37 kills in her first three games as an Eagle
• The victory over Southern Connecticut State University is just the third since 2006 with the previous two coming in 2015 and 2022 – This marks the first sweep for Post University against the Owls since 2015 and the fourth all-time in seven wins
• Alyssa Groves tallied a total of 35 digs across both matches putting her at 1,094 in her career moving her past Post Hall of Famer Melissa Czeremcha for 10th most in program history, Kerry Smith (2005-08) owns the all-time record with 1,689 career digs
• The five-set loss snaps a four-game winning streak for Post University in matches that go five sets dating back to October 14th, 2023 against Holy Family University

 
WHO'S NEXT
Post University will prepare for their 2024 home opener against American International College (AIC) on Wednesday evening at 6:00 PM. The Eagles have lost their last 10 matches against the Yellow Jackets dating back to 2008, six of which have been sweeps as well as each of the last two meetings in the last two seasons. The first 100 fans at the match, taking place in the Drubner Center, will get a surprise giveaway courtesy of Chik-Fil-A.