NEW BRITAIN, C.T. - The Bryant University women's volleyball team swept Central Connecticut, 3-0, on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at Detrick Gymnasium.
The Bulldogs (6-11) snuck past the Blue Devils (2-11) in the first two sets before pulling away comfortably in the third and final set.
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH THERESA GARLACY:
"
Carrina Barron led us defensively and kept us in the match with her aggressive serves, getting them out of system a lot. Her digging was fantastic.
Madison Koeller ran a 5-1 for the first time this season, which was great to see. Nice seeing
Natalie Ricevuto in her first full match back after being injured the last six weeks. She did a great job for us and was very consistent. Brookelyn (Talmadge) really fired us up in the third set."
"Not our cleanest match, but we were able to fight from behind in the second set after being down 17-10, and then in the third set we were in the match throughout the whole set. We need to clean it up and play better this weekend going into conference play."
HOW IT HAPPENED:
SET 1- Bryant, 26-24
- After trading points with the Blue Devils the first 20 rallies, Madison Koeller and Nina Gavin put away kills to give the Bulldogs a 12-10 edge.
- Central Connecticut leveled the score at 15-15 and notched two straight points to go up 17-15.
- Bryant reclaimed its lead through an attack error before Kaitlin Curran later powered down a kill to take the first set.
SET 2- Bryant, 25-23
- The Blue Devils strung together a 5-0 run to hold a 12-7 advantage, prompting a Bryant timeout.
- Central Connecticut grew its margin to 17-10, but the Bulldogs rattled off five straight points, including a Kalia Alvarado kill, to cut their deficit to 17-15.
- Hannah Jackson fired a kill to knot the score at 19-19 and the Bulldogs scored on three of the last four rallies to capture the set.
SET 3- Bryant, 25-18
- An ace and kill from Alvarado on back-to-back rallies gave Bryant a 10-7 edge.
- The Blue Devils fought back, taking the lead at 12-11 and growing it to 18-15.
- Bryant pulled back in front at 19-18 behind a kill from Layla Olatunde and proceeded to score five unanswered points to seal the victory.
STATS AND NOTES:
- Koeller tallied 19 assists, nine digs, three block assists and two aces.
- Ricevuto's seven kills were her first of the 2026 season.
- Barron has collected 10-or-more digs in eight straight matches and 20-or-more digs in four total matches this season.
- Bryant outpaced Central Connecticut in kills, 31-28, and digs, 56-53.
- Three of the Bulldogs six wins (Stonehill, Rhode Island, Central Connecticut) have been sweeps.
NEXT UP:
The Bulldogs return to Smithfield this weekend to open up America East play with matches against NJIT (Friday, Sept. 25, 7 p.m.) and UMBC (Sunday, Sept. 27, 1 p.m.) at the Chace Athletic Center. Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+.
