Union, N.J. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Women's Volleyball team opened the 2015 season on Tuesday night with a 15-25, 29-27, 21-25, 17-25 non-conference road loss at Kean. Sophomore Nicole Henderson (Bergenfield, N.J.) handed out a career-high 39 assists for the Mount, while senior Zana Daluz (Pawtucket, R.I.) finished with a career best 10 kills.
 
After hitting .120 in the opening frame on Tuesday, Mount Saint Vincent rebounded in the second set to put away 15 kills and hit .227 as a unit. A four point spurt keyed by a Daluz service ace and one of her 10 winners moved the Mount out to a 19-15 lead in the second stanza. Kean rallied with a six point run to pull in front 22-21 on a Mount Saint Vincent attack error.
 
The Dolphins retook the lead on back-to-back kills from Ashleigh Scozzari (New Rochelle, N.Y.) that pushed the Mount in front 23-22. The lead would not grow to more than a single point until the Dolphins scored the final three points of the frame on kills from Daluz, Rachel Gabriel (Yonkers, N.Y.) and Henderson that evened the match at a set apiece.
 
Mount Saint Vincent jumped out to an 18-14 lead in the third frame following kills from Kristine Javier (Fair Lawn, N.J.) and Maria Leineweber (Waimanalo, Hawaii), before Kean ripped off four straight points to tie the score, keyed by four straight miscues from the Dolphins.
 
The Mount regained a 21-19 lead, but saw Kean score the final six points of the set to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Kendall Sonico keyed the spurt from the Cougars with a kill and a service ace.
 
Kean put together a 9-0 run in the deciding fourth set to open a commanding 11-3 lead. The Kean lead grew to 16-4, before the Mount strung together six straight points led by two aces and a kill from Daluz to pull to within 17-10. The Mount got its deficit down to 22-17 on a Kean error, but the Cougars got kills from Sonico and Vikki Stec to lead a 3-0 run to close out the set and the match.
 
The Cougars recorded at least 12 kills in each of the four sets on Tuesday and hit an efficient .476 in the first set and .385 in the fourth set. Kean was led by 15 kills from Stec who hit .464 in the contest to go along with 15 digs. Calli Scheuermann rounded out the night with 12 kills and six digs for the Cougars. Sonicao closed the night with 28 assists, adding six aces with Sara Ridgeway totaling five blocks.
 
Henderson finished the night with a career-high 39 assists for Mount Saint Vincent and added eight digs and a pair of kills. Daluz posted double-figures in kills for the first time in her career and equaled the match-high with six service aces for the Dolphins.
 
Scozzari led the Mount Saint Vincent offensive attack with 15 kills and lifted six digs, while Leineweber finished the night with nine kills, four digs and three service aces. Erika Moncada (Yonkers, N.Y.) closed the match with six kills and senior Jennifer Roman (Queens Village, N.Y.) led the team with 21 digs.
 
For the match, Kean held the edge in kills 54-45 and service aces 16-9. The Cougars also held the advantage in total team blocks 9-2 and in points 75-55.
 
Tuesday's loss moves Mount Saint Vincent to 0-1 overall on the season. The Dolphins will return to action on Friday when they take on Widener and Rowan as part of the Profs Invitational. Play gets underway on Friday at 2:00 p.m.

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