DURHAM, N.H. - The Sycamore volleyball team posted a three-set victory for the sixth time this season as they swept past the Connecticut Huskies 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-18) in their second game of the Holly Young Invitational being played in Lundholm Gymnasium on the campus of the University of New Hampshire.
Indiana State (6-3) will wrap up tournament action at 4:30 p.m. (ET) today when they go up against the Fairfield Stags. New Hampshire (0-9) and Fairfield (2-6) are currently playing in the second early session game of the day.
The Sycamore offense was led by junior Morgan Dall with 14 kills while senior Stacy Qualizza contributed 11 and sophomore Monique Morris seven. Sophomore Loni Mackinson had 20 assists and senior Shelbi Fouty 13 while senior Kiya James had 13 digs and Morris 11. Freshman Samantha Kersting and Mackinson had three blocks each.
The opening set was tight early and tied at eight before back-to-back kills by Mackinson and Kersting put ISU on top for good at 10-8. The Sycamores pulled out to an 18-13 lead after another Mackinson kill but the Huskies scored four straight points to get back to within one. A kill by Dall stopped the UCONN run and started a 7-0 ISU run. Morris closed out the win with a service ace to give ISU a 25-17 win.
Indiana State never trailed in the second set although the action was tied twice. Morris broke the final tie at six-all with a kill that also started a 6-0 Sycamore run that put ISU on top 12-6. The Sycamores maintained that advantage for the rest of the set and closed out a 25-19 win on a block by Kersting and Mackinson.
The Huskies were determined to extend the game to a fourth set as they went point for point with the Sycamores in the third set which was tied 12 times with seven lead changes. Indiana State finally broke away from the Huskies with a 5-0 run that broke the final tie at 17 and featured two Dall service aces, and kills from Qualizza, Morris, and Fouty. The Sycamores gave up just one more point the rest of the way and closed out the 25-18 win on a block by Fouty and Morris.
Indiana State had 43 kills on 105 attempts with 18 errors and a .238 hitting percentage for the game while limiting the Huskies to 30 kills in 106 attempts with 16 errors for a .132 hitting percentage.
This was the second meeting between ISU and Connecticut and the first win for the Sycamores who lost to the Huskies 3-1 in the 2000 Loyola (Marymount) Tournament.
FOLLOWING THE SYCAMORES: Live stats and video for this weekend's games can be found at:
http://livestats.prestosports.com/unhwildcats/
