SCRANTON, Pa. – The Salisbury University volleyball team opened up a weekend quad-match with a 3-1 (25-19, 18-25, 25-15, 25-19) triumph over the Cortland Red Dragons on Friday night at the University of Scranton's John Long Center.
The two sides traded runs early in the first set, with the Sea Gulls inching ahead 14-11 on four straight points bookended by
Kiley McTaggart kills. The Red Dragons kept pace and trailed only 20-19 late, but a Cortland service error opened the door for a 5-0 SU run.
Maura Fay blasted down the kill that put away the opening fixture 25-19.
Cortland answered with a strong set two, building on a late 18-15 lead with a 5-1 push to go up 23-16. A kill by Anna Lynch drew the Red Dragons even in the set column by a 25-18 margin.
Salisbury answered with a vengeance in the third set, racing out to an early 5-1 lead. After the Red Dragons cut it to 9-8, SU netted six in a row to go up 15-8. Cortland settled in again and clawed back to within 18-15, but
Gwen Eustace put the hammer down and sparked a set-closing seven-point string.
Alyssa DeWaal landed a pair of kills in the final run, and a bad Red Dragon set put it on ice for the Sea Gulls, 25-15.
Set four proved a familiar tune with both teams going on multiple runs. With the score tied 19-19, the Sea Gulls sat back and let Cortland spot them four straight on bad sets and attack errors. McTaggart powered one down to get it to match point, and one more attack error sealed the deal for SU, 25-19.
GAME NOTES
- Kiley McTaggart set the pace up front for the Sea Gulls with 14 kills on a .234 swing rate. She also narrowly missed a double-double with nine digs to go along with three assists and two blocks (one solo).
- Gwen Eustace landed 11 kills (.435) and rose up for nine blocks (four solo), one shy of her career high and tied for fifth-most in single-match program history.
- At 325 rejections, Eustace passed Brooke Salitrik '98 (321) for sixth in SU career blocks and is one away from catching Michelle Dugan '99 (326) for fifth on the all-time leaderboard.
- Maura Fay and Alyssa DeWaal chipped in five kills apiece.
- Julie Altieri made it five straight double-doubles with 30 assists and 12 digs, plus a pair of service aces.
- With 1,976 assists, Altieri is just 24 away from becoming the sixth setter in Salisbury history to eclipse 2,000 for her career.
- Prudence Marco ran down a team-best 17 digs to go along with four assists, while Annabelle Weis added 10 digs.
- Salisbury hit .206 as a team and limited Cortland to a .101 clip, including .000 and -.020 in the third and fourth sets, respectively.
The Sea Gulls will continue their Electric City residency in a pair of Saturday matches, taking on hosts Scranton at 11 a.m. followed by a highly-anticipated rematch with 2024 NCAA Tournament foe Middlebury at 4 p.m.
Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with affiliate membership in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (football, men's & women's swimming), Coastal Lacrosse Conference (men's lacrosse), State University of New York Athletic Conference (field hockey), and Colonial Women's Golf Conference (women's golf). With over 500 student-athletes in 23 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the nation's most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, featuring dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on and off the field. The Sea Gulls have won a combined 23 team national championships, 24 individual national championships, and 205 conference championships, and have produced 53 Academic All-Americans.
To Make Tomorrow Yours at Salisbury University, and learn more about Sea Gull Athletics' tradition of excellence, visit SUSeaGulls.com or follow on social media @SUSeaGulls.
