The Quinnipiac Bobcats volleyball team swept the season series against the Sacred Heart Pioneers, winning in four sets on Saturday night to improve to 9-2 in conference play.
On Friday night, Burt Kahn Court was brimming with elation as the Quinnipiac Bobcats women’s volleyball team took down the previously unbeaten Fairfield. The Bobcats rode off of that wave of momentum into their first set with the Pioneers.
In the blink of an eye, senior setter Damla Gunes was in the midst of a five-point run to open the game. The Pioneers were forced to use a timeout, and subbed out junior middle blocker Emily Sawyer, listed as 6’6.
“It’s more about me adjusting than about her,” said Quinnipiac’s senior middle Milena Silva. She was a part of the Quinnipiac block that limited Sawyer to just 5 kills, when she averages 1.76 per set. “It’s more about us, not the tallest player in the MAAC.”
The Bobcats were on cruise control for the remainder of the set, with Silva putting up a block on either plan in successive plays, giving her team a ten-point lead. They would take the first by a score of 25-15.
Unfortunately for the Bobcats and head coach Kyle Robinson, the remainder of the game would not be as pretty.“You saw the second set. It was a nightmare. It was tragic,” he remarked.
That problematic second set saw the Pioneers put up 14 as opposed to the eight they earned in the first. The Bobcats were playing from behind for much of it, and finally managed to tie the score at 20 after an ace from sophomore libero Carola Negron Diaz.
With the game tied, the Bobcats were propelled by a pair of Italians. Graduate opposite hitter Elena Giacomini and freshman outside hitter Vittoria Tonelli both recorded a kill and a block down the stretch, escaping with a 25-20 victory.
When asked about the opportunity to play with others from her country, Tonelli beamed. “It’s like getting to play at home, it’s so great.”
In a rather bleak postgame atmosphere as the Bobcats stared down their errors, Tonelli was the bright spot. She notched double-digit kills for the first time in conference play, and set a career high with 14.
“I thought she did a great job coming in in a tough situation,” Robinson said. “This is how we toughen you up, right? We throw you into the deep end and teach you how to swim that way.”
The Bobcats fell into the same trap in the third set, forcing themselves to play from behind with self-inflicted errors. Ten attack errors and three missed serves proved fatal as the Pioneers flipped the scoreboard and won 25-20.
The fourth was back to status quo, as Damla ripped a four-point run to mitigate any mounting Sacred Heart momentum. From there, Giacomini swung for two kills before heading to the service line and firing the dagger(s). Three aces all but ensured Bobcat victory as her team finished the job and took the set 25-12.
It may not have been a glamorous win, but it sure was an important one. The Bobcats followed up the momentous Fairfield by extending their winning streak to six. They remain tied with Niagara for second place in the conference at 9-2, but are starting to pull away from the middle tier of MAAC teams.
On Tuesday, the Merrimack Warriors come to Hamden. Then, on Halloweekend, the Bobcats will host the Iona Gaels and Manhattan Jaspers as they look to continue their forward momentum.
