By Dan Dilizia, Staff Writer
Photo Courtesy of Dustin Waleff
The Susquehanna women’s volleyball team won three straight games this weekend against Shenandoah University, Salisbury University, and Stockton University during the battle of the SU’s at O.W. Houts Gymnasium in Selinsgrove, Pa.
During their first game against Shenandoah, the River Hawks won 3-1.
Susquehanna handily won the first set 25-10, but struggled in the second, losing a hard-fought battle in extra points, 33-35.
The River Hawks gained their momentum back and won the next two sets confidently, scoring 25-15 and 25-16 victories, led by a solid performance from senior middle hitter Kody Dillon, who notched six blocks.
Junior outside hitter Rosina Esposito also had a commanding outing, with 15 kills and three service aces. Senior outside hitter Riley O’Dowd led the team with 17 kills, with senior libero Lizzie Herestofa leading in digs with 16 and contributing four service aces and three assists. First-year setter Kiera Roach continued to perform well, adding 34 assists and five kills.
Susquehanna swept the Hornets in nearly every category, holding the advantage in kills (56-39), aces (16-4), blocks (14-3), assists (53-37), and digs (58-54).
Susquehanna swept the Salisbury Seagulls 3-0 on Saturday, Sept. 11 during the morning game in the O.W. Houts Gymnasium.
The Seagulls entered with a 4-2 record and led the River Hawks 22-18 in the first set. Susquehanna then turned a corner and overcame Salisbury, gaining seven out of the next eight points to win the set.
After the opening set, it was smooth sailing for Susquehanna as they coasted to a 25-13 victory in the second set, with a hard-fought victory in the third set 25-22.
Esposito and O’Dowd led the charge, with 11 kills and 10 digs for and 12 kills respectively. Sophomore setter Madison Rockey also had a stellar game, with 27 assists against the Seagulls.
Esposito said, “Our back row was working very hard to get our setter a good ball which made the delivery to me on the outside great. Running a quick tempo also helped as the defenders weren’t able to get out to the block as quickly leaving me space to get kills.”
Dillon led the team in blocks with five, for the second game in a row, with Herestofa again earning the top spot in digs with 11.
Following the victory over Salisbury, the River Hawks closed out the Battle of the SUs against Stockton University.
The competition was closer than expected, being that Stockton was not able to win a game before playing Susquehanna.
The River Hawks won the first set 25-19 finishing with an astonishing 48% hitting rate but lost the second 16-25 as the Ospreys continued to apply pressure throughout the match.
After a comfortable victory of 25-16 in set three, the two teams were neck-and-neck in the fourth set, with Susquehanna coming away with a victory of 25-22 as senior outside hitter Brooke LaCesa delivered the final blow.
O’Dowd had yet another dominant outing with 14 kills, with LaCesa close behind at 12. Rockey also contributed 38 assists, five kills, and eight digs. Herestofa had another solid performance with 22 digs and two service aces.
“It was a great home opening weekend and the electric energy from the fans was an amazing feeling after not having a home game in two years. We all played with intensity and mental toughness to sweep the weekend. Overall, I’m really happy with the performance of my teammates and I can’t wait to play some top-ranked teams coming up!” O’Dowd said
The team will travel to Johns Hopkins next weekend to compete in the Johns Hopkins invitational tournament. They will have quite a challenge as they face American Volleyball Coaches Association second -ranked Johns Hopkins and fourth -ranked Colorado College, along with Ithaca, another tough matchup.
