On Saturday night, the Quinnipiac women’s volleyball team took down the Iona Gaels in the semifinals of the MAAC tournament. The Bobcats were able to win 3-1.
The first set ended with a score of 25-18. This set went back and forth until the Bobcats were able to pull away with a 5-0 run. The Gaels were not done yet being able to come back and take the lead 17-15. The Bobcats would be able to come back and take the win at the end of the set.
The second set similar to the first ended with a score of 25-18. After an early back and forth the Bobcats were able to take the set heading into the third set.
Going into the third set the team huddled together and spoke to each other on how important the fourth set would be.
“We talked about how we need to compete more in like a much higher level because you’re hanging around or like, you’re up to zero like you got this match but mentally like I know it wouldn’t go easy,” said Damla Gunes. “So you were like, yeah, like, don’t look at the score, just compete and this score is gonna come up and we kind of reflected what we did good and what we did that on the prior three sets and saying that we should clear it up more.”
“We knew that we got this game as far as we would keep focus on the game,” said Ginevra Giovagnoni.
Iona did not let the Bobcats enjoy a sweep, as they came back to win this set 20-25. After being tied 10-10 early in the set, the Gaels would break down the Bobcats defense and win the set. This would force the game to a fourth set.
The fourth set would go to Quinnipiac with a score of 25-21. Ginevra Giovagnoni would lead both teams with 27 kills and 21 digs. Aryanah Diaz had 15 kills, two aces, three blocks and 20 digs.
Iona being the sixth seed did not play like it. The MAAC Libero of the Year, Hope Matschner was the reason to keep Iona fighting throughout.
“She’s what scares me on that team,” said head coach Kyle Robinson. “But you know when you have a libero that’s talented. I don’t know why you adjusted right? Like, you know, we wanted to be a little bit smarter. Make sure we have a lot of options to keep her active and have to wait and think and make really good decisions. But she’s gonna win a lot of battles and we know that so we just stay patient and just kind of keep grinding.”
The Bobcat’s next game will be Sunday, at 1:00 p.m. against the number one-seeded Fairfield Stags. Fairfield and Quinnipiac have been each other’s competition this and last season. This championship game would be a repeat of last year.
“But tomorrow we have to work we have to work and earn it and know that it’s not going to be easy,” said Robinson.
