On Saturday afternoon, the Quinnipiac Bobcats defeated the Manhattan Jaspers in straight sets, securing back-to-back conference wins for the first time this season.

The first set of the matchup was the most even, as both teams took turns scoring with neither one pulling away.

With the score tied at 24, the Jaspers took the lead after Laila Glover finished off a kill.

The Bobcats, down to their last life, were able to claw back and get the next point to keep the set going.

With the set tied at 25, the Bobcats took over with back-to-back kills by Elena Giacomini to pull away and finally put away the Jaspers 27-25.

“They dug themselves out of that hole and then picked us up in the second and third,” said head coach Kyle Robinson. “So I’ll take it.”

The Jaspers came out of the gates red hot in the second set taking a 4-1 lead early on. The Bobcats, however, kept their composure and even things up at five.

Similarly to the first set, the two teams shared points until the Bobcats, while up 10-9, scored seven consecutive points to extend their lead to 17-9 and take a stranglehold on the set.

After pushing their advantage, the Bobcats never looked back as they fought off a late Jaspers push to take the second set 25-17, ending the set on a Leilani-kai Giusta kill.

Following the theme from the first two sets, the two teams were locked in a stalemate with both teams sharing the first 10 points of the set five apiece.

The Bobcats went on another run, scoring six consecutive points to take an 11-5 lead, capped off by a kill by Alexandra Tennon.

Following the scoring run, Quinnipiac never looked back as Manhattan was never really able to get anything going throughout the set as the closest they got was four, as the Bobcats completed the sweep, 25-14.

“Sometimes we struggle, when we are up 2-0, we struggle to finish the game on a high level,” said Damla Gunes. “So it was nice to see the team,  finish the job, and get it done in the third set.” 

Giusta led the Bobcats with 12 kills, her second consecutive game with double-digit kills, while Maike Bertens led the Jaspers with nine kills of her own.

“I think with my centers, we’ve really been working on connections as well as all the other players,” said Giusta. “So everyone’s been getting that down.”

The Bobcats will be back in action tomorrow as they look to sweep the weekend when they take on Iona in Hamden at 1:00 p.m.