Box Score
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The middle blockers of the Queens College volleyball team performed admirably Thursday night at Pelz Gymnasium, as senior Jovana Pavlovic and freshman Christina Hickey combined for 28 kills and a .343 hitting percentage in the Knights' four-set loss at Southern Connecticut State University (25-21, 21-25, 25-18, 25-22).
Hickey (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) hit .407 with 13 kills and four blocks (one solo), while Pavlovic (Belgrade, Serbia) registered 15 kills (.300) and one service ace. Setters, senior Stephanie Schroeder (Lynbrook, N.Y.) and sophomore Ceren Kilic (Istanbul, Turkey) also contributed for QC (2-7). Schroeder tied for the match-high with four services aces to adding nine digs and 25 assists, while Kilic (nine kills, 22 assists, three aces, 12 digs) finished one kill shy of a triple-double. Sophomore Erin Eckes (Oconomowoc, Wis.) led the Knights on defense with 16 digs out of her libero position.
The host Owls (10-4) outhit Queens by a .233-.145 margin, despite the Knights' 67-63 advantage in points. Both teams registered positive ratios in the service game (SCSU: nine aces, five errors; QC: 10 aces, six errors), as well.
Set one was one of the closest of the match, as it featured 12 ties and eight lead changes. The Knights used four straight points, including one ace from Schroeder and two kills from freshman outside hitter, Heather Gessner (Mineola, N.Y.), to take a 21-19 advantage late. However, the Owls answered back with six-consecutive points to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
Queens was down 18-16 late in the second set, before embarking on a 9-3 run to close things out in its favor. Hickey put down three kills late in the stretch to help the Knights tie the match at 1-all.
Southern Connecticut took the lead at 6-5 in set number three, before QC knotted things up at 12-all off an Owls' attack error. From there, SCSU took the lead for good and never looked back.
Five ties and four lead changes were featured in the final set, as Queens refused to go away quietly. The Knights found themselves down 3-0 early on, before taking their first lead of the set on Kilic's ace at 12-11. The lead flip-flopped before QC took two-point advantages at 17-15 (SCSU attack error) and 18-16 (kill by Pavlovic), before the Owls used four straight points to take a lead they would never relinquish. Another ace from Kilic brought the Knights to within a 23-22 deficit late, but two put-away kills by the hosts rounded out the set, and the match.
Head coach Leanna Taylor's Queens side will get back into East Coast Conference action Tuesday night (Oct. 4), when they travel to Old Westbury, N.Y., for a 7 p.m. first serve at the New York Institute of Technology.
