DANBURY, Conn. - Senior
Julia Stoliker (Red Hook, N.Y.), WestConn's leading scorer this season, notched 17 kills, 19 digs, two aces and three blocks for a match-high 21.0 points in a Little East Conference women's volleyball matchup on Saturday afternoon. The Wolves won the first two sets, but Southern Maine rallied to win 3-2 (16-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-17, 15-11) at Stephen Feldman Arena.
The hosts controlled the opening set and hit .310. Stoliker had several kills in the middle of the set, including back-to-back floors that built a 15-8 lead. Freshman Kyra Courtemanche (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.), senior Ali Rondeau (Carmel, N.Y.) and first-year Sadie Casella (Marlboro, N.Y.) each added aces, and sophomore Sophia Siruchek (Campbell Hall, N.Y.) ended the set with yet another service ace for a 25-16 win.
The Huskies opened the second set on a 5-0 run behind Amelia Beatty's serve, but WestConn recovered. Freshman Natalyse Cuza (Flushing, N.Y.) racked up three kills in the early going, Siruchek kept the Wolves close, and they eventually took the lead for good. Stoliker's kills pushed the lead to 15-9, and WestConn led 20-13 before Southern Maine scored six of the next nine points to get within 22-24. The visitors committed an attack error, ending the set, 25-22.
The match turned in the third set. Southern Maine's Alexis Tortola opened with a six-point serving run, including two aces on graduate student Taylor Thompson (West Point, N.Y.), and WestConn never got closer than four points after Courtemanche answered with two aces of her own. The Wolves hit .156 in the 25-19 loss. In the fourth set, Southern Maine led 17-7 on another Tortola run, and WestConn's rally, with Stoliker kills, a Cuza kill and a Courtemanche ace, got the margin down to 19-16 before the Huskies closed it out, 25-17.
WestConn jumped to a 5-2 lead in the fifth set, courtesy of an ace by Siruchek and another by Courtemanche. Haylie Bidegain then served nine straight Southern Maine points, including two aces, widening the gap to 11-5. Thompson had two kills and Stoliker had an ace in a four-point WestConn run, but Southern Maine capped the set 15-11.
Courtemanche finished with 38 assists, five aces and 11 digs. Siruchek canned 11 kills and 14.0 points, Thompson tallied 10 kills and 10 digs, and Cuza added nine floors. Casella led the Wolves with 21 digs, Rondeau connected on four aces, and freshman Kayla Proscia (Holbrook, N.Y.) had a trio of kills. WestConn finsihed with 53 kills to Southern Maine's 50, and both teams had 15 aces, but Southern Maine hit .206 to WestConn's .196.
Bidegain led the visitors with 10 kills, five aces and 16.0 points. Hernandez notched nine kills, Lizzy Harbester added eight, and Sofia Daoud recorded a match-high 28 digs.
WestConn falls to 4-16 overall and 1-5 in Little East Conference play. Southern Maine improves to 6-16 and 1-5. The Wolves get a week to regroup before heading to LEC foe Rhode Island College on Saturday (Halloween).
