Volleyball: WVU Loses Heartbreaker to UConn
October 29, 2004 11:02 PM | General
October 29, 2004
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| Zemanski |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va.– The West Virginia University volleyball team fell short in its bid to give Connecticut its first BIG EAST loss after falling to the Huskies by the score of 3-2 (32-30, 30-13, 21-30, 22-30, 13-15) on Friday, Oct. 29, at the WVU Coliseum.
The Mountaineers 15-10 (2-3) topped the Huskies 15-6 (5-0) in the first two games of the match before falling short in the final three contests.
Game one was a back and forth affair that saw a total of 13 ties and seven lead changes with no team leading by more than three points throughout. With the Mountaineers trailing by one at 18-17, they went on their largest run of the game and used a 7-3 spurt to take a 24-21 advantage.
Later in the contest, UConn rattled off two straight to pull to within one at 26-25 and used another two point run to tie the contest at 29. WVU held off the Huskies late by scoring three of the final four points to record a 32-30 victory.
The second game of the night proved to be all-West Virginia. The Mountaineers used a 15-7 run midway through the contest to turn an 8-4 advantage into a 23-11 lead. Junior Julie Hockenson recorded a perfect 1.000 attack percentage on four kills to lead WVU to an easy 30-13 win.
UConn came out of the 10 minute intermission with an intensity that the Mountaineers were unable to match. WVU opened game three with a 6-4 lead, but the Huskies rattled off nine of the next 10 points to take a 13-7 lead of their own. Hockenson did her best to boost the morale of the Mountaineers by scoring three kills in four points to spark an 11-5 run that tied the contest at 18. Connecticut blew the game open by scoring 12 of the final 15 points to take game three by a score of 30-21.
West Virginia opened the fourth game with a 9-5 lead before the Huskies charged back to tie the contest at 11. With the game tied at 13, UConn went on an 8-1 run to take a 21-14 lead it would never relinquish. WVU pulled to within six at 25-19 when it scored five straight points, but the Huskies proved to be too much and tied the match at two with a 30-22 victory.
The Mountaineers came out of the blocks in game five with the passion and enthusiasm that propelled them to victories in the first two games of the night. WVU forced UConn to use a timeout when it opened the contest with a 3-0 lead. The Mountaineers took their largest lead of the game at 10-5, forcing Connecticut to use its second timeout of the contest. The Huskies clawed to within one at 11-10 before tying the game for the first time at 13. UConn took its first lead of the game at 14-13 and scored the final point of the match to secure a 15-13 game five victory.
West Virginia was led by Alison Zemanski who registered a game-high 20 kills and Hockenson who finished the match with 19 successful attacks. Stephanie Zolna tallied 12 kills on the evening while Brandice Studnicka led the Mountaineers with a game-high 61 assists.
Zolna was WVU’s leader defensively with 20 digs while Aurora Ebert-Santos registered 16, Ashley Pappas recorded 15, Kelly Mullins tallied 14 and Studnicka had 11.
Connecticut was led by Jamie Hadenfeldt who had 19 kills and Jenny Neelands who registered 52 assists. Hadenfeldt also led UConn defensively with a game-high 32 digs.
The Mountaineers will look to get back on the winning track on Sunday, Oct. 31, when they host BIG EAST foe Boston College in a 1 p.m. match at the WVU Coliseum.
