DURHAM, N.H. - The Bryant University women's volleyball team pulled off a reverse sweep to defeat New Hampshire, 3-2, in an America East matchup at Lundholm Gymnasium on Friday, Oct. 9.
The Wildcats (12-5, 2-1 America East) had the Bulldogs (9-13, 3-1 AE) on the ropes, winning the first two sets and pushing Bryant to match point at 25-24 in the third.
Bryant proceeded to narrowly win the third set, 28-26, and fourth set, 25-22, before dominating the fifth with a .412 hitting percentage to win 15-8 and complete the comeback.
Hannah Jackson led the Bulldogs with 11 kills while
Madison Koeller posted a 30-assist, 16–dig double-double.
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH THERESA GARLACY:
"What a great team win. We played great in the second set, but didn't finish, and instead of hanging our heads, we regrouped and really came out fighting in the third. We never wavered in our belief we were going to win this match."
"We saw a great step up from Claudia (Camacho-Castro), who came in for Carrina Barron when she became ill during the match. The setters did a great job moving the offense around and finding our hitters. Our middles did a great job creating seams for the pins. Our right sides,
Hannah Jackson and Ruth (Ochelli), did a phenomenal job. Ruth got big kills when we needed them the most."
"Total team win: we had four people with 14 or more digs. Our hitting wasn't stellar; we made a lot of unforced errors until the fifth set, then we played really clean. Awesome team win, really excited to come up here and get a win. It's a hard place to play, and they're a scrappy team."
HOW IT HAPPENED:
SET 1- New Hampshire, 25-21
- The Bulldogs and Wildcats were deadlocked at 10-10 through the first 20 rallies.
- A kill from Kaitlin Curran and UNH service error pulled Bryant ahead 17-15, forcing a Wildcats timeout.
- Curran and Jackson later pounded back-to-back kills to give the Bulldogs a 20-19 edge until the Wildcats used a 6-1 run to clinch the first set.
SET 2- New Hampshire, 26-24
- Bryant engineered a 5-1 surge, featuring a Ruth Ochelli kill and Claudia Camacho-Castro ace, to take a 12-10 advantage.
- The Wildcats scored four consecutive points to recapture the lead at 18-15.
- The Bulldogs rattled off five unanswered points, including kills from Ochelli and Layla Olatunde plus a Kalia Alvarado ace, to reach set point, 24-22. UNH then scored four straight points to claim the second set.
SET 3- Bryant, 28-26
- Madison Keem delivered an ace and Alvarado drilled a kill as Bryant scored four in a row to go ahead 10-6.
- Bryant extended its lead to 18-13 behind five Wildcat attack errors.
- UNH stormed back and took a 25-24 edge, but the Bulldogs ultimately fended off the Wildcats' comeback. Olatunde and Jackson landed block assists at set point to force a fourth set.
SET 4- Bryant, 25-22
- The Wildcats began the set with a 10-7 advantage.
- UNH later committed three-straight errors and Brookelyn Talmadge put down a kill to lift Bryant to a 18-17 lead, it's first since 7-6.
- Ochelli, Talmadge, Jackson and Olatunde crushed kills down the stretch before Keem caught UNH off guard with a dump off kill to tie the match.
SET 5- Bryant, 15-8
- The Bulldogs built a 7-3 advantage through a pair of kills from Alvarado and a pair of aces from Camacho-Castro.
- Bryant tacked on three more points off two Olatunde kills and an attack error to take a 10-4 lead, prompting a UNH timeout.
- The Bulldogs scored on an attack error, ace from Nina Gavin, service error and kill from Jackson to reach match point, 14-8. Curran provided the final kill of the contest to give Bryant the come-from-behind victory.
STATS AND NOTES:
