ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The 2022 regular season came to a close Friday evening as the Queens College volleyball team wrapped up East Coast Conference with a five-setter victory over the Redhawks of Roberts Wesleyan University inside the Voller Athletic Center.
It was an uncharacteristic start for head coach
Stefan Leger and his Knights as they looked out of sync for the first two sets. Leger would tell you it would not be due to traveling and playing on the same day as they have made trips all season long.
But with his regulars not in sync, Leger turned to his depth and it was the non-starters who showed their strength when it matter the most. Led by rookie
Elizabeth Cerullo (Saint James, N.Y.) who notched a career-high 16 kills, while sophomore
Alicia Cervera Sospedra (Valencia, Spain) tallied her first career double with 11 kills and 15 digs to go with two service aces as the Knights inched one step closer to clinching the #2 seed in the upcoming East Coast Conference tournament with a 3-2
(Set Scores: 20-25, 21-25, 28-26, 25-21, 15-7) victory over the Redhawks.
With the win, the Knights improved to 12-12 overall and 6-4 in East Coast Conference play.
For the first time in 13 seasons, the Knights finish the regular season with a .500% overall record and a plus. 500 % in conference play. The last time Queens finished with a winning regular season percentage was in 2008 when the Knights posted a 25-10 overall record and 11-5 in the ECC as they advanced to the ECC Tournament and earned an At-Large to the NCAA Women's Volleyball East Regional Tournament.
The 2022 NCAA At-Large bid might be out of the picture for Leger and his young squad this season, but the Knights will have an opportunity to secure the automatic bid to the Tournament as conference tournament gets underway next week. Queens will have an opportunity to finish as the #2 seed as they hold the tiebreaker over Mercy College and Molloy University but will need Daemen University to defeat Mercy to clinch their highest finish in conference play since the 2004 season when Queens went unbeaten in NYCAC
(now ECC) Conference record of 11-0.
Recap (Final Score 3-2 20-25, 21-25, 28-26, 25-21, 15-7)
Queens began the first set exchanging two point runs as each side answered the other.
With the Knights leading 11-9, the home side went on an 8-1 run taking a 17-13 advantage. But rookies
Kendall Conrad (Carrolltown, PA) and
Lindsay Osterhoudt (Orlando, FL) combined for a 2-0 run to get within two, 17-15 before a 6-0 run by the Redhawks gave the home side enough room for mistakes before taking a 25-20 first victory for a 1-0 lead.
Queens would open the second set with a 6-3 advantage as they took advantage of Redhawks' errors before an 8-1 run by Roberts Wesleyan gave them a four-point advantage of 11-7.
Despite the Knights cutting the deficit down to two, 11-13, a 7-1 run by the Redhawks would put them in a commanding position into taking a 2-0 lead.
But trailing 20-13, two service aces and multiple kills by the offense would get Queens into a rhythm before three straight errors by the Knights put the Redhawks up 2-0 with a 25-21 second victory.
With the Redhawks looking to earn the season split, Queens began the third set with a different tempo than the first two sets.
Franco began the third with a kill before Cerullo, Cervera, and freshman
Taylor Smith (Temecula, CA) combined for multiple kills and blocks as the Knights began the third with a lead as much as four, 10-6.
However, the home side would not go away quietly as they rallied back to trim the Knights' lead down to one, 10-9.
But Cerullo would notch three kills as Queens went on a 5-2 run to take a 15-11 advantage. As Queens looked to put the third set away and cut their match deficit down to one, the Redhawks rallied back. With the Knights leading 23-20, a 4-0 run by the Redhawks would help them take a 24-23 advantage essentially putting them at match point.
Cervera had other ideas as the sophomore tied the match at 24-All before a 4-2 run helped Queens take the third set at 28-26 and cut their deficit down to 2-1.
Cerullo continued her hard work in the fourth set as she helped Queens start the set with an 11-6 run.
The Redhawks would continue to stay within striking distance but with the Knights leading 16-13, Cervera helped Queens put together a 6-3 run as they took a seven-point lead for a 22-15 advantage.
With the Knights in front, Queens would hold on for a 25-21 fourth-set victory and tie the match at 2-2.
For the sixth time this season, Queens was going the distance and for the second time this season in back-to-back matches to determine a winner.
Having worked hard to rally back from a 0-2 deficit and their first 0-2 rally of the season, it was Cerullo who began the action for the Knights as she tied the fifth with a kill before freshman
Ryann Frontera (Dripping Springs, TX) took control of the ball.
The rookie would notch two straight service aces before adding an assist to Cervera's kill as Queens jumped ahead with a 5-1 lead.
A 7-5 run by Redhawks would see them cut the Knights' lead down to three, 10-7 but a Redhawks error would start a 5-0 run to close the match as the trio of Cerullo, Cervera and Smith combined for the final four points to complete the 0-2 deficit for a 3-2 victory on Friday night as Leger and the Knights earned their 12
thvictory of the season and inched ever so close to the #2 seed.
Match Highlights
- Cerullo tallied a career-high 16 kills hitting .294 on 34 attempts.
- Cervera notched her first career double-double with 11 kills and 15 digs to go with three blocks.
- Franco fell short of her 10th double-double of the season as the sophomore notched eight kills and 15 digs.
- Smith created her own block party as the rookie cooked a career-high seven blocks to go with five kills on the evening.
- Sophomore Despina Boudouris (Athens, Greece) recorded her 10th double-double of the season with a match-high 42 assists and 13 digs to go along with one service ace and two blocks.
- Frontera recorded a career-high 27 digs along with six assists and two service aces.
- With their sixth five-setter match of the season, the Knights improved their record to 4-2 on the season.
- For the first time since the 2017 season, Queens completed a series sweep over the Redhawks.
- It is the second sweep over a conference opponent this season and third overall with the Knights having swept Le Moyne in non-conference play.
UP NEXT: Attention shifts to the ECC Volleyball Tournament set to begin in Buffalo, N.Y. next Friday (Nov. 11) evening as head coach
Stefan Leger and the Knights look to the program's second title in program history.
More Details will follow later this week.
For the latest news on Queens College Athletics, follow the Knights at queensknights.com or via social media on Facebook (Queens College Athletics), Twitter (@QCKnights), and Instagram (qcknightsny), women's volleyball (qcknightsvb).
