FLUSHING, N.Y. – The Queens College women's volleyball team opened their home portion of the schedule Friday morning as they hosted day one of the Aline Pascale Lubin Invitational by welcoming the Eagles of Post University and Warriors of East Stroudsburg University to Fitzgerald Gymnasium.
In match one against the Eagles, the Knights were led by the trio of rookie
Madi Hathaway (Edmond, OK), senior
Christina Franco (Lynbrook, N.Y.) and junior
Kendall Conrad (Carrolltown, PA as they combined for 33 of the team's 54 kills to help Queens defeat the Eagles in four sets.
In their final match of the day against East Stroudsburg, the trio of Conrad, Hathaway, and rookie
Jonaida Donowa (Porter, TX) combined for 34 of the team's 61 kills but in a match that would go down to the wire in each set, it would be the hard-fought defeat for the Knights as they fell in four sets to the Warriors.
With Friday's split, the Knights improved their record to 6-1 on the year. For the second straight season under head coach
Stefan Leger, the Knights have opened the year with an overall record of 6-1.
MATCH ONE RECAP vs. POST (W, 3-1 | Set Scores: 26-24, 25-15, 13-25, 25-18)
The first set would see a total of 17 ties and 12 lead changes as both teams answered each other point for point.
With the Knights trailing 9-7 in the early going a kill from senior
Alicia Cervera (Valencia, Spain) started an 11-6 run as Queens took an 18-15 advantage. But the Eagles would rally back on a 9-4 run to take a 24-22 lead and just one point away from taking a 1-0 match lead.
But Franco would have other ideas as the senior tallied back-to-back kills to tie the match at 24-24 before a service ace from senior
Despina Boudouris (Athens, Greece) put the Knights one point away from clinching the match. Boudouris and Hathaway would link for the set point as Hathaway laced her fourth kill of the set to give the Knights a 26-24 first set victory and take a 1-0 lead.
Queens would quickly run away with the second set as the Knights raced out to an 11-1 lead and never looked back.
In the second set, Franco would record six kills on 12 attempts for a hitting % of .500, while Conrad notched four kills on 10 attempts as Queens took a 2-0 match lead with a 25-15 second set victory.
The third set would see the Eagles take advantage of the Knights' nine attacking errors as they earned a third victory set to the score of 25-13 and cut Queens match lead down to 2-1.
It would be a back-and-forth affair in the fourth set as both sides combined for four ties and two lead changes. With the Knights leading 9-6, the Eagles would use a 6-0 run to take a 12-9 lead before the rookie duo of
Sophie Schonauer (Bakersfield, CA) and Hathaway started a 10-3 run as Queens took a 19-15 lead for good. In the Knights' final six points, Queens tallied five kills and one service ace to earn the match victory over the Eagles to the final score of 25-18 and earn a 3-1 match victory.
The Knights would hit for .316 as they totaled 16 kills on 38 attempts led by Schonauer and Hathaway combing for nine kills.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Rookie Hathaway led the way with her third triple-double of the year notching a match-tying 12 kills, 14 assists and 18 digs (one short of her tying career-high) and a career-best three blocks.
- Franco recorded her second double-double of the year with 11 kills and 15 digs.
- Conrad notched 10 kills, two service aces, and four digs in the match.
- Boudouris recorded her second double-double of the year with a match-high 27 assists and a season-best 18 digs to go with two service aces.
- It would be a career day for rookie Schonauer as she missed out on a near double-double recording nine kills, 14 digs, and three service aces.
- Junior Sarah Munn (Torrance, CA) fell short of her second career double-double as the junior recorded a season-best 26 digs and nine assists.
PROGRAM MILESTONES
- With her seventh assist in the first set, Boudouris became the sixth player in program history to surpass the 2000K Assist mark.
- With their victory over Post, the Knights completed the season series sweep of 2-0 and extended their win streak to four matches against the non-conference foe.
MATCH TWO RECAP vs. EAST STROUDSBURG (L, 1-3 | Set Scores: 26-24, 23-25, 24-26, 25-27)
In their final match of the afternoon, the Knights matched up against East Stroudsburg for the first time since the 2017 season and were in search of their first win over the Warriors since the 2015 season and looked to keep the current six-match undefeated streak going.
The four-set match saw a total of 28 ties and 10 lead changes with each set going down to the wire and three sets needing extra points to determine the winners.
In the first set, neither side was able to build on a lead larger than two points until the middle blocker duo of junior
Lindsay Osterhoudt (Orlando, FLA) and Donowa combined for two kills and a block to take a 16-13 lead. But the Warriors would continue to stay close before an ESU service error and a kill from Conrad gave the Knights a 21-17 lead, their largest lead of the first set.
But the Warriors would fight back using a 3-0 run to cut Queens' advantage down to one 21-20 before Donowa and Franco combined for two kills mixed in with an ESU attacking error to take a 24-20 advantage. However, the Warriors would rally back with a 4-0 run to tie the first set before Donowa notched her fifth kill of the set to put the Knights at set point once again.
Leading 25-24, another ESU attacking error would give the Knights a 1-0 match lead as they earned a 26-24 first set victory.
The second set saw Queens race out to a quick 10-4 lead before ESU started to cut into the home side advantage.
With Queens leading 16-11, errors would hurt the Knights as the Warriors were able to use a 10-1 run to take a 21-17 lead before closing the second set to the final score of 25-23 and tie the match at 1-1.
The third set saw 13 ties and four lead changes as both sides answered each other point for point. Tied at 19-19, the Warriors went on a 4-2 run to take a 23-21 lead before Hathaway and Conrad recorded back-to-back kills to tie the set at 23-23.
But it would be the Warriors who would take a 2-1 match lead as they closed out the third set to the final score of 26-24.
With Queens needing to win the fourth set and force the decisive fifth set, the fourth set would see seven tied and two lead changes.
Trailing 6-4 in the early going, a Warriors attacking error would start an 8-2 run for the Knights with Donowa recording two kills and Conrad notching two service aces as Queens took a 12-8 lead.
However the Warriors would fight back to cut the advantage down to one, 15-16 before Conrad notched two kills and Hathaway recorded two service aces as Queens took a four-point advantage of 20-15.
Five points away from tying the match, the Warriors answered back with an 8-3 run to tie the set at 23-23.
The next six points would see both teams dig out to create huge rallies but it would be the visitors who would end the match on a 4-2 run to earn the fourth set victory to the final score of 27-25 and earn the 3-1 match win giving Queens their first loss of the year.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Conrad paced the Knights with her first double-double of the year with a team-high 12 kills and 10 digs to go with two service aces.
- Rookie Hathaway recorded back-to-back triple-doubles and the fourth of her young career as she notched 11 kills, a career-high 27 assists, and 12 digs to go with a career-best three service aces.
- It would be a career match for Donowa who tallied 11 kills, seven digs, and four blocks.
- Junior Osterhoudt notched a season-best nine kills and five blocks.
- Junior Munn matched a career-best 31 digs to go with six assists.
- Cervera notched seven kills on a season-best hitting % of .429.
- Boudouris recorded 24 assists and six assists in the match.
NEXT MATCH
The Knights wrap up the first homestand of the year on Saturday, Sept. 14 as they welcome the University of Pittsburg-Johnstown Mountain Cats and the Hawks of Saint Anselm College to Fitzgerald Gymnasium on day two of the Aline Pascale Lubin Invitational. The first serve is set for 10:00 a.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).
