BOSTON, Mass. – The Plattsburgh State women's volleyball team traveled to UMass Boston for a weekend of action, entering Friday evening's match against the UMass Boston Beacons on the heels of back-to-back victories. In the opening match of the weekend tournament, the Cardinals looked to carry that momentum but ultimately fell 3-0 (25-13, 25-19, 25-19) in non-conference action at the Clark Athletic Center Gymnasium, despite close play in the second and third sets.
Sophomore setter
Emily O'Brien (Monroe, N.Y./Monroe-Woodbury) paced the Cardinal offense with a game-high 24 assists, helping set up the attack for senior outside hitters
Liya Girma (Sachse, Texas/Bishop Lynch) and
Iris Mulvey (Middle Island, N.Y./Longwood), who finished with nine and eight kills, respectively. On the defensive end, senior libero
KC Burke led the way with a game-high 14 digs, while O'Brien added 12 digs to record a double-double.
For the Beacons, Kaitlyn Leberstien set up the offense with 14 assists, while Mya Perron led the attack with 12 kills. Ashlee Wudi recorded 13 digs, and Addie Blomgren finished with a game-high four blocks.
UMass Boston held the statistical advantage in digs (59-51), aces (10-1), and blocks (5-3).
After back-and-forth action to start the opening set, Plattsburgh held a 6-5 lead after back-to-back kills from Mulvey and
Brooke Anderson (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury). The Beacons answered right away with an 8-0 run to take a 13-6 advantage. The Cardinals were able to break up the scoring, but UMass Boston still led 17-10 after Mulvey put down a kill. Another scoring burst from the Beacons pushed the margin to 22-10 before UMass Boston took the first set, 25-13.
The second set was a much closer affair as Plattsburgh battled the Beacons and used a 5-0 run featuring two kills from Girma to take a 13-11 lead. Despite the strong start from Plattsburgh, UMass Boston's offense picked up and answered with seven straight points to go ahead 19-14. The Cardinals didn't go away and continued to push late in the set, but ultimately fell 25-19.
The Cardinals struck first in the third and final set, and both teams went punch for punch as Plattsburgh trailed 15-14 following three consecutive points sparked by a Mulvey kill. Another Mulvey kill late in the set brought the Cardinals within one, but a 5-0 run to close out the set secured a 25-19 win and a 3-0 match victory for the Beacons.
With the loss, Plattsburgh falls to 2-3 and will be back in action tomorrow, Sept. 12, against Amherst at 1:30 p.m. before facing RIT at 4 p.m.
