FLUSHING, N.Y. – Looking to conclude their homestand on a high note, the Queens College volleyball team welcomed the Saints of D'Youville University to Flushing in East Coast Conference play Sunday afternoon.
After dropping the first two sets, the Knights would go back and forth in the third and fourth sets to force the deciding fifth set. Trailing 7-6, led by sophomore
Kendall Conrad (Carolltown, PA) and junior
Alicia Cervera (Valencia, Spain), Queens would end the match on a 9-1 run to earn a thrilling 3-2
(Set Scores: 21-25, 12-25, 31-29, 26-24, 15-8) comeback victory for their first ECC win of the season.
With the win, the Knights ended a three-match losing streak to improve to 7-4 overall and even their conference record to 1-1 on the season.
Match 11 Recap (Set Scores: 21-25, 12-25, 31-29, 26-24, 15-8)
Having dropped three matches in a row at home and fourth overall, head coach
Stefan Leger and his squad were looking to regroup before opening a two-match road stand on Wednesday.
The Knights led by the sophomore duo of Conrad and
Lindsay Osterhoudt (Orlando, FL) would come strong in the first set to take a 5-1 lead.
But the Saints would battle back going on a 12-6 run to take a 13-11 lead forcing a Knights timeout. The stoppage of play would help break the visitors run before another 7-2 run by the Saints saw them take a 22-15 lead.
Queens would battle back using a 6-1 run to get within two but it would be the visitors who would take a 1-0 match earning a 25-21 first set victory.
The Saint would take control of the second set early on as they led by 9-3 before the Knights cut their deficit down to three on several occasions. But errors would hurt the Knights comeback attempt as they fell behind 2-0 in the match dropping the second set to the score of 25-12.
In danger of dropping their fourth straight home match, Queens fell behind 5-3 before a Saints service error helped start a 7-0 run with the trio of Conrad, junior
Christina Franco (Lynbrook, N.Y.), and senior
Alexis Deodat (Tampa Bay, FL) leading the offense to take a 10-5 lead.
But the Saints refused to go away as they used a 12-4 run to take a 17-14 lead forcing a Knights timeout. Using the timeout to their advantage, Queens would tie the set at 20-20 giving way to a D'Youville timeout.
The third set would see a combined 14 ties and eight lead changes as both teams tried to summon every ounce of energy to stay one step ahead of each other.
After two straight errors put the Saints one point away from match point of 24-23 forcing Leger to take their final out. Using the timeout to their momentum once again, Conrad would record a kill and a service ace to help the Knights take a 25-24 lead.
But as the Saints tied the third set at 29-29, Conrad would record back-to-back kills helping the Knights earn a 31-29 third set victory to cut their deficit down to 2-1.
Led by Conrad six kills, and three service aces from Franco, the Knights would go into the fourth set with the momentum.
The fourth set would see 19 ties and five lead changes as both teams answered each other point for point.
With Queens leading 23-22, a kill and ace by the Saints would help take match point before Leger called his final timeout to break the momentum.
The stoppage of play would help the Knights as a Saints service error tied the fourth set at 24-24 before the sophomore duo of Osterhoudt and Conrad tallied back-to-back kills to help Queens earn a 26-24 fourth set victory to tie the match at 2-2.
The duo of Conrad and Deodat combined for 10 kills as the Knights offense hit .361 in the fourth set victory.
Playing in their third five-setter of the season, junior
Despina Boudouris (Athens, Greece) and Conrad helped the Knights open the fifth set on a 4-1 run forcing the Saints to take an early timeout.
The timeout would help the visitors as they used a 6-2 run to edge ahead 7-6.
After a slow start to the match, Conrad would tally her 20
th kill of the match to tie the set at 7-7 before back-to-back service aces from Cervera and an attacking error by the Saints saw Queens jump ahead 10-7 forcing the Saints to use their final timeout.
Out of the break, a kill from Osterhoudt would see the Knights take an 11-7 lead.
After a service error cut the Knights advantage down to 11-8, the Knights would end the match on a 4-0 run to earn a 15-8 fifth-set victory and complete the 3-2 comeback victory for their first ECC win of the season.
By the Numbers
- Conrad led the offense as she recorded her fourth double-double of the year tying a career-high 20 kills to go with 16 digs and two blocks.
- Hitting a blistering .458 on the day, Osterhoudt notched 11 kills to go with three blocks.
- Deodat recorded eight kills, and four blocks, while Franco tallied eight kills to go with 17 digs and three service aces.
- Cervera recorded three kills, a season-high 12 digs, and two service aces in the victory.
- Boudouris recorded her seventh double-double of the year with 38 assists, and 14 digs to go with two service aces and a season-high four kills.
- Sophomore Sarah Munn (Torrance, CA) tied a team-high 17 digs to go with six assists on the afternoon.
Next Match: Head Coach
Stefan Leger and the Knights open a two-match roadstand beginning on Wednesday (Sept. 27) evening as they travel to Sparkill, N.Y. for a conference matchup against the Spartans of Saint Thomas Aquinas College. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m.
For the latest news on Queens College Athletics, follow the Knights at queensknights.com or via social media on Facebook (Queens College Athletics), X (Formerly Twitter) (@QCKnights), and Instagram (qcknightsny), women's volleyball (qcknightsvb).
