New York, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Women's Volleyball team dropped a pair of 3-0 decisions on Friday afternoon at the New York State Challenge. The Mount fell to Stevens 25-17, 25-18 and 25-13 before dropping a 25-16, 25-11, 25-12 match to Rochester.
 
In Friday's opener against Stevens, the Dolphins jumped out to an 8-4 lead in the first set which was sparked by two Stevens' miscues and a Kristine DeMasi (Brooklyn, N.Y.) service ace.
 
The Ducks rallied back to tie the score at 11-11, but after falling behind by two the Mount rallied with four straight points to pull back in front 17-15. DeMasi helped the run with another ace for the Dolphins.
 
After falling behind by two, Stevens ripped off the final 10 points of the set, including three Katie Hall kills to pull in front 1-0.
 
In the second set, Stevens used a series of runs and was never challenged by the Mount. The Ducks scored 11 of the first 14 points of the set and later used a 10-2 run to build a commanding 16-5 advantage.
 
Mount Saint Vincent would score five of the final seven points in the stanza, but couldn't overcome 14 Stevens' kills in falling behind 2-0.
 
The Ducks put the match away in the third using runs of 7-0, 6-0 and 4-0 to secure the victory. Stevens got 14 more kills in the third set and totaled 41 overall while hitting .229 as a team.
 
Maggie Kowalska led the offensive attack for the Ducks with 18 kills and hit a blistering .500. She rounded out a strong all-around match with 13 digs and three aces. Hall added 11 kills and hit .333 for the Ducks to go along with two aces and a block.
 
Morganne Booker (East Providence, R.I.) led the Dolphins in the contest with five of the team's 10 kills. She also finished with two aces, two digs and a pair of blocks. Ashleigh Scozzari (New Rochelle, N.Y.) added two kills and two blocks, while DeMasi wrapped up the match with three aces.
 
Overall in the match, Stevens finished with the advantage in kills 41-10, digs 46-32 and in service aces 17-8. Samantha Gates and Kristen Herchenroder each collected four aces for the Ducks.
 
Against Rochester on Friday, the Dolphins got off to a sluggish start and found themselves trailing in the early going by a score of 7-1. The Mount could not get any closer then eight points the rest of the way in the stanza as it fell behind by a set to the Jackets.
 
Rochester used a 6-1 run early in the second frame to jump in front 7-2 and in the later stages of the set scored seven straight points to open a 23-9 lead as it cruised to the 2-0 advantage.
 
Mount Saint Vincent rebounded early in the third frame and got kills from Erika Moncada (Yonkers, N.Y.) and Jennifer Roman (Queens Village, N.Y.) as part of a 6-4 spurt to open the set.
 
Rochester would again use a big run, this time 8-1, to pull in front 12-8. The Dolphins would stay within striking distance until the Jackets tallied the final nine points to secure the sweep and collect their 19^th win of the season.
 
Rochester featured a balanced attack that had Savannah Benton and Kelly Mulrey post 12 and 11 kills respectively. Xiaoyi Li handed out 35 assists, while Jennifer Neff and Sara Ribakove finished with two blocks apiece.
 
Scozzari paced the Dolphins offense against the Jackets with six kills and rounded out the afternoon with a dig and a block. Booker added four kills for the Mount and three blocks. Carly Jenkinson (Pacifica, Calif.) finished up the day with a team-high 12 digs.
 
In the second match on Friday, Rochester held the edge in kills 39-15, while the Dolphins took the advantage in digs 39-36 and in total team blocks 4-3.
 
Friday's results drop Mount Saint Vincent to 11-14 overall on the season. The Dolphins will close out the Challenge on Saturday when they tussle with Clarkson at 9:00 a.m. and with Elmira at 1:00 p.m.