Release: 10/07/2009
Piscataway, NJ - Senior outside hitter Monica Knight led Hofstra with 14 kills and graduate student outside hitter Marina Markovic added 12 kills, but it was not enough as the Hofstra Volleyball team dropped a 3-1 decision to Rutgers on Wednesday evening in College Avenue Gym.
The loss was Hofstra's third straight and drops their record to 5-14 overall. Rutgers ended a short two-match losing skid and improved to 8-10 with the win.
Set scores were 25-19, 20-25, 25-22 and 25-21 in favor of Rutgers.
Knight also added 12 digs to help account for her 12th double-double of the season, while freshman libero Kylee Maneja tied her career-high with 25 digs in the match.
The first set saw Rutgers win by the score of 25-19. Trailing 2-1 early on, Rutgers would score five of the next six points in the set to lead 6-3 after a Pride attack error. A kill from Markovic would bring Hofstra to within 8-7 before the Scarlet Knights scored four straight points to extend its advantage to five at 12-7. The Pride would close the gap to two on a pair of occasions later in the set but were unable to get any closer than that before dropping the first stanza by six points.
In the second set Hofstra would break a two-all tie with four straight points, including a service ace from Maneja, and never really looked back in posting the 25-20 win. A kill from Knight midway through the set pushed Hofstra's lead to its largest of the stanza, 17-10, and the Pride would hold on from there for the five-point victory. After Rutgers had gotten to within 23-20, back-to-back kills from junior middle blocker Anissa Whitney ended the stanza and tied the match at one set a piece.
A kill from Markovic early in the third set gave the Pride a 7-5 lead before Rutgers outscored Hofstra, 5-1, to take a 10-8 advantage. Markovic would add another kill before a trio of Scarlet Knight attack error allowed Hofstra to regain the lead at 12-10. The advantage would be short-lived, though, as Rutgers took the lead for good at 15-14 after a service error by the Pride. Two straight service aces from redshirt freshman middle blocker Carolyn Jenkins late in the set brought Hofstra within 21-20, but Rutgers held off the Pride down the stretch to escape with the 25-22 win and earn the two sets to one lead in the encounter.
Knight would tie the fourth set at 13 with a kill before Rutgers answered with a 4-1 run to lead 17-14 after a putaway from Alex Jones. An attack error from the Scarlet Knights closed the gap to 19-18 later in the stanza but Hofstra was unable to send the match to a decisive fifth set as Rutgers earned a 25-21 victory in the fourth set.
Caitlin Saxton led Rutgers with 12 kills, while Hannah Curtis chipped in with 13. Saxton also had 13 digs in the match.
Hofstra will face two-time defending Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) champion Delaware on Friday at 4 p.m. in its next match before closing the weekend with the final match of its current five-match road trip at Towson at 5 p.m.
Box score can be found here:
http://www.gohofstra.com/
