HAMDEN, Conn – The Quinnipiac volleyball team met their match in an unexpected place after losing to St. Peter’s in five sets on Sunday. Burt Kahn Court has normally been a place of comfort for the Bobcats; they only lost one game at home all of last year.
That reputation didn’t faze the Peacocks.
Despite playing the day before and traveling to Quinnipiac the day of this game, they showed a lot of resilience. Outside hitter Maliyah LaBrie showed up, charting 24 kills with a .292 hitting percentage throughout the game, making her the most dangerous offensive weapon on the court.
In the first set, the Bobcats came out swinging but had trouble maintaining their lead. Junior twins Damla and Yagmur Gunes took this set by the reins, with Damla setting up Yagmur with six kills.
Grad-student opposite hitter Elena Giacomini on the other hand had some trouble keeping up. Despite a dominant performance against Rider the day prior, Giacomini got sick the morning before the game against St. Peter’s.
“I like seeing Elena out there, who woke up with a huge fever early this morning and wasn’t supposed to play, but she still dragged herself out there and competed for us. And not just competed, but competed five sets and competed pretty well,” said Head Coach Kyle Robinson.
The rest of the first set went relatively according to plan, with the Bobcats taking it 25-19. The next two sets would give Quinnipiac a lot of trouble. The first pass and service pressure disappeared, and so did the rest of the offense.
Quinnipiac had three aces in the first set, but didn’t record one in sets two and three. Yagmur Gunes and sophomore outside hitter Leilani-kai Giusta were both the main focal points of the offense, but both were hitting inefficiently.
Set three looked unwinnable from the get-go, ripe with communication and attack errors. The Bobcats needed something to change, and they found it in the fourth set.
“I liked seeing, you know, freshmen come in a tough situation like Carola (Diaz) did, placed into the libero spot, and excel the way she did,” said Robinson. “I was really happy with that.”
To say Quinnipiac dominated in set four would be an understatement. The Bobcats boasted a ridiculous .454 hitting percentage, and literally everyone was on. Giusta was especially hot, recording a whopping eight kills en route to a 25-8 set win.
The real challenge was maintaining this consistency into the fifth set, which unfortunately for the Bobcats, was insurmountable.
Set five was easily the most intense set of volleyball I have ever watched in my life. St. Peter’s commanded the set early and got out to a 7-4 lead. The Bobcats battled hard, and eventually, a service ace from Damla Gunes tied the set at 12 points a piece.
Both teams were making a lot of mistakes, but were doing anything to keep the ball off the floor.
In the ending stretch St. Peter’s made an attack error and then lost another point for being out of rotation. Another attack error gave Quinnipiac the lead, 15-14, but they couldn’t hold on. A bad set from Diaz and two attack errors from the Bobcats sealed the deal.
Quinnipiac volleyball aims to bounce back against new MAAC addition Merrimack on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
