by David F.P. [CCSU 2009 Volleyball Modest Image Gallery]

NEW BRITAIN, CT- The Terriers from SFNY arrived in CCSU territory to take on the Blue Devils in an NEC match up. It would take just a little over an hour for the home team to pick up the victory with a three sets to zero win with scores of 25-11, 25-15, and 25-15

As always with recaps I tend to focus on the offensive, as it is hard enough to follow the fast paced action, but this is not to in any way downgrade the importance of key sets and key defensive plays. I do note defensive saves whenever I have time to write them down.

Set 1 was pretty much all Central, the Blue Devils picked up their 25 points in a variety of ways. Emily Cochran delivered a spike, a tap over followed soon after, a Blue Devil whapped an attack in, SF spiked out of bounds, and committed an attack error, a spike out of bounds, followed, Cochran smashed an attack off a defensive dig attempt, following a good defensive save by Danielle Gasser, Cochran delivered another spike, Jamie Baumert got in on the scoring with a kill from the net, and then tapped the ball over the net for another point, Cochran sent another kill flying off a block and out of bounds, and after a good defensive save by Amanda Bayer, Cochran sent another attack off the blockers to the floor, on the ensuing play Blaike King had a good D play, and SFNY committed a miscue, Baumert served up an ace which bounced of the Terrier D and out of bounds. Tori Vaughan picked up a point with a tap over and off the defense out of bounds. And that was just Central’s first 15 points.

The next 10 came from a cross court smash spike from Cochran, following a good save by Bayer, A serve out of bounds by SFNY, another Central spike, King picked up a kill off a set, Kaitlin Petrella served up an ace when the Terriers had a miscue, Baumert delivered a big time smash form the net, a four contact error was called on the visitors, Maite Mendizabal hammered a kill over, off a defender, and out, Cochran struck again, and two other SFNY attack errors followed.

The Terriers scored their 11 points thanks to a Central serve out of bounds, a Anisa Lila kill off the blocks, another CCSU attack flying out of bounds, a spike into the net by the home team, another kill from Lila off a blocker and outside the lines, she later sent a blast over as well, Detelina Dimitrova got in on the scoring when her spike ricocheted off several defenders, she would add another kill soon afterward, Gina Giles picked up a point as well, and later got a running start for a spike in, Lila picked up the last of the team’s points with her kill.

Set 2 had each team actually battle to 7-7 before Central built the lead they needed. The home team’s points came about through a pair of SFNY attack errors, Mary Kate Schmidt and Vaughan shared a block, a serve out of bounds by the visitors, Baumert tapped to a gap in the defense, and later picked up a straight kill, and also whacked an attack in. SF scored thanks to a kill from Giles just in bounds, a serve out of bounds by Central, and a CCSU attack out o f bounds, later Lila picked up another kill, and the Blue Devils spiked out of bounds again, Ana Lucena served two aces, one when the ball landed just in bounds, and the other, when the ball hit the dig and fell in.

The rest of Central’s points came in a variety of forms, a visitor miscue on a return was one, a cross court attack out of bounds followed, Baumert and Bayer teamed up for a block, Baumert then sent a kill in, another opponent miscue gave them a point, Vaughan tapped an attack to a gap, an error called on SF followed, Cochran thundered an attack in, and had another blast soon afterward, a tap attack over the D’s front gap came later, Jamie Rademacher unleashed a crushing attack, King had a kill soon afterward, Baumert would later set a ball over and the defender deflected it out of play. A Gasser service ace added tot eh scoring, as did two attack errors by their opponents which followed, Bayer came up with another great defensive save following a fellow teammate’s also great save, and a Blue Devil sent a blast in. Two other errors by their opponents provided the last two points.

For SF, their points came from Thalita Paladino’s tap attack which ended a long battle featuring good defensive plays by Lucena and Gasser. A Central attack out of bounds resulted in another point. Following a good defensive play by Lila, Linnea Wannemacher and Giles’s block resulted in a four contacts error on Central, Paladino picked up another kill, and another SFNY kill came off the touch, a CCSU attack error added to their point total, Giles had a tap over as well, Lila added a kill of her own.

Set 3 was generally CCSU leading and St. Francis giving chase. The Blue Devils scored their points from two SF attack errors, a Petrella service ace when the ball hit the net and dropped to the floor, an SF hit into the net, another kill from Baumert, Mendizabal’s rocket through the defense, Cochran’s kill from mid court that still got the job done, Baumert’s tap over the defensive line, Cochran’s kill to the corner, another cross court smash from her, and a huge kill off a set after that, Rademacher picked up another kill, and Cochran got in on the scoring again with a kill knocked off a block and out of bounds, a SF spike into the net, another Vaughan kill, a block, Rademacher picking up a spike which kabonged off a dig attempt and out, a four contact error by St. Francis, Mendizabal’s ace off the fingertips of the defenders, Cochran and Baumert both tapped to gaps in the defense, Vaughan came up with a block, SF hit the ball out of bounds, and after Gasser’s defensive save, Cochran had a huge spike to end the set and match.

St. Francis picked up their 15 points by Lucena’s service ace, a tap attack, a Central serve into the net, Lila’s kill off defenders and outside the lines, a Central spike into the net, a Dimitrova kill off the blockers, a Giles put over tap attack, a Dimitrova smash, a Giles blast following a set, Central’s inability to return an attack, a Lila kill, a CCSU spike into the net, Paladino’s service ace, Lila’s tap over, and a hit out of bounds by Central.