By Dan Dilizia, Staff Writer
Photo Courtesy of Caleb Philips
The Susquehanna University Women’s Volleyball team had mixed success during the four-match Captain’s Classic hosted by Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia. They lost their two games on Friday Sept. 3 to the Illinois Wesleyan Warriors and Christopher Newport Captains but won both games on Saturday, Sept. 4 against the Lynchburg Hornets and Cabrini Cavaliers.
The River Hawks had a dominant performance of 25-18 in the first set against Wesleyan, but lost the next three sets 22-25, 21-25, and 14-25. However, they performed very well at the net, notching 9-1 on blocks, with five coming from senior Paige Sfiroudis and three apiece from seniors Riley O’Dowd and Brooke LeCesa.
LeCesa and O’Dowd each had eleven kills, with junior outside hitter Rosina Esposito adding sixteen. On the back court, senior libero Lizzie Herestofa collected 28 digs for the match while Esposito and sophomore Maddy Kempski combined for seventeen more. Herestofa and Esposito, both team captains, were named to the all-tournament team.
In their second match against the Captains, Susquehanna lost the first set but put up a fight, taking the set to overtime 25-27. The River Hawks proceeded to win the next two sets, 25-19 and 25-23. However, Christopher Newport came back in the fourth and fifth sets, winning the fourth 17-25 by notching 15 kills to the River Hawks five, and won the final set 10-15 despite a commanding performance by first-year Keira Roach.
Saturday’s first matchup against Lynchburg was challenging for the River Hawks, as they won the first set 28-26 in extra points. Finding a rhythm, they won the next set comfortably at 25-20. The momentum shifted in set three, with the Hornets able to win 17-25. The Hawks regrouped and won the match in set four 25-20, led by strong play from Esposito.
“It was the first time we actually played as a team, but we connected and it worked. It was easy to get discouraged because we lost the games the day before, but we came back well,” LaCesa said.
Susquehanna finished their last matchup of the weekend with a sweep of Cabrini, winning three sets in a row for the victory, with scores of 25-19, 25-17, 25-13. First-year Ryan Rorls had a fantastic collegiate debut, collecting five kills in set three.
“I’m proud of my team’s adversity. We lost games we shouldn’t have on Friday and then regrouped and executed our game plan on Saturday to give us our two first wins of the season,” senior Kody Dillon said.
