FLUSHING, N.Y. – Senior middle blocker Jovana Pavlovic hit .417 on 18 kills Friday night at Fitzgerald Gymnasium, as the Queens College volleyball team made it three victories in a row with a 3-1, East Coast Conference triumph over visiting University of the District of Columbia (25-23, 20-25, 25-23, 25-19).
Prior to the match, the two teams participated in ceremonies to honor the ECC's "Dig Pink" week - which raised breast cancer awareness, while the fans in attendance made generous donations to the Side-Out Foundation.
Pavlovic (Belgrade, Serbia), led all players with a .417 hitting percentage, four service aces and 23.5 points (three assisted blocks). Like Pavlovic (team-high 15 digs), junior outside hitter Suzanne Byrne (Richmond, B.C.) picked up a double-double with 12 kills and 11 digs for the Knights (5-13, 2-7 ECC), as did sophomore setter Ceren Kilic (Istanbul, Turkey) – who passed 14 digs and set 12 assists. Senior Stephanie Schroeder (Lynbrook, N.Y.) led the team with 26 assists, while sophomore Erin Eckes (Oconomowoc, Wis.) and freshman Rita Romeo (Glen Oaks, N.Y.) served three and two aces, respectively.
UDC (9-17, 1-8 ECC) outhit QC by a .106-.089 count, though Queens held advantages in kills (46-43), aces (9-4) and points (59-54) to secure the match.
The visiting Firebirds won the first three points of the opening set, en route to an 11-6 advantage. From there, the Knights received five straight serves from Pavlovic to knot the stanza up at 11-all. The score was tied on six occasions overall, before a 6-1 spurt by the hosts broke open a 21-16 edge. UDC rallied back to even the set at 23, before a kill by Byrne and a Firebirds attack error gave QC a 1-0 advantage.
UDC led for the early to middle portions of the second frame, before the Knights once again used six tough service points from Pavlovic to send the score to 18-all. From there, the Firebirds utilized a 7-2 spread to close out the set, and knot the match at 1-all.
Six ties and three lead changes were the story early in set three, with the teams deadlocked as late as 12-12. In fact, the tying point was the start of an 8-0 run by QC, with Eckes providing two aces in the spurt. UDC pulled to within one point at both 23-22 and 24-23, before a double-contact error by the visitors on the next set attempt gave Queens the 2-1 lead in the match.
The Knights scored five consecutive tallies to secure a 14-7 lead in the fourth and final set, stretching their advantage to as many as eight points at 17-9 and 23-15 in taking control for good.
Head coach Leanna Taylor's Knights have a short turnaround, as they travel to Oakdale, N.Y., for a tri-match Saturday afternoon. Queens will play East Coast Conference leader and host Dowling College at 12 noon, before facing off against non-conference foe American International College at approximately 2 p.m.
