FLUSHING, N.Y. – Continuing their East Coast Conference homestand Tuesday evening, the Queens College women's volleyball team welcomed St. Thomas Aquinas College Spartans to Fitzgerald Gymnasium.
The first two sets would see eight ties and three lead changes but the Knights would continue to find the gap as four different Knights combined for seven kills or more led by junior
Kendall Conrad (Carrolltown, PA) recording a match-high 12 kills, while the trio of senior
Christina Franco (Lynbrook, N.Y.), junior
Lindsay Osterhoudt (Orlando, FLA) and rookie
Jonaida Donowa (Porter, TX) combining for 23 kills as Queens earned a three-set ECC victory over the Spartans.
With the win, the Knights improved to 15-5 on the year and 5-0 in ECC play.
MATCH RECAP vs. St. Thomas Aquinas College (W, 3-0 | Set Scores: 25-20, 25-17, 25-11)
The first set would be an early back-and-forth affair, and with the Knights leading 6-5, Queens would use an 8-0 run led by four straight kills from Franco as the home side took a 14-5 advantage.
But the Spartans would use five service aces to their advantage as they recorded a 14-6 run to cut Queens' advantage down to one point, 20-19 before Franco's fifth kill of the set started a final run of 5-1 including her sixth kill of the set to seal the first set victory to the final score of 25-20 as the Knights took an early match lead of 1-0.
Both sides opened the second set exchanging the first six points before a Conrad kill started a 6-1 run as the Knights took a 9-4 lead.
However, the Spartans responded with a 6-1 run of their own to tie the set at 10-10. With the set tied at 10-10, the Knights went on a 4-1 run to take a 14-11 lead before the Spartans used two kills to cut the advantage down to one, 14-13.
Leading by one, Conrad and Donowa combined for two kills and a block as the Knights went on an 11-4 run to finish the second set earning a 25-17 set victory en route to taking a 2-0 match lead.
Queens opened the third set on a 5-0 run as Donowa, Conrad, and Osterhoudt recorded three kills and a block to go with a service ace from Franco.
The Spartans would use a 4-1 run to get within two, 6-4 before Conrad recorded back-to-back kills to start a 7-1 run as the Knights took a commanding lead of 13-5.
The visitors responded by taking four of the next seven points to cut the home side advantage down to 16-9 before back-to-back kills from Osterhoust and three service aces from Franco put Queens on a final run of 9-2 to complete the three set sweep to the final score of 25-11 as the Knights extended their win streak to eight matches on the year.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Junior Conrad led the way with a match-high 12 kills to go with two blocks, two service aces, and two digs.
- Senior Franco fell short of her seventh double-double of the year notching nine kills, a match-high 15 digs, four service aces, and two assists.
- Junior Osterhoudt recorded seven kills on a .357 hitting % to go with four blocks.
- Donowa notched seven kills a career-best hitting % of .429 to go with four digs, two blocks, and one service ace.
- Senior Despina Boudouris (Athens, Greece) recorded a match-high 33 assists, three digs, and two kills in the victory.
- Junior Sarah Munn (Torrance, CA) tallied 11 digs, two assists, and one service ace.
- Rookie Olivia Hyman (Forest Hills, N.Y.) recorded 10 digs, one service ace, and one assist in the victory.
NEXT MATCH
The Knights conclude their homestand on Saturday, Oct. 19 as they welcome the Mavericks of Mercy University town in ECC play. The first serve is set for 5:30 p.m.
For the latest news on Queens College Athletics, follow the Knights at queensknights.com or via social media on Facebook (Queens College Athletics), X (Formerly Twitter) (@QCKnights), and Instagram (qcknightsny), women's volleyball (qcknightsvb).
