PAT LONGOBARDI — Sports Writer
At a time when the SCSU volleyball team was going to roll to their first Northeast-10 conference win, they had to regroup again and figure out how exactly to wrap up this match.
Southern could not find their way late, as the College of Saint Rose fought back from two sets down to defeat the Owls, 3-2 (18- 25, 16-25, 25-20, 25-17, 15-10) at Pelz Gymnasium.
Southern (5-3, 0-1 NE-10) continued a two-game losing streak and have lost three of their last five. Southern closed 2010 with a 7-8 record in the NE-10, 16-13 overall, just one game away from qualifying for the conference tournament. Saint Rose (5-2, 1-0 NE-10) continued a five-game winning streak and defeated Southern for the first time since the 2008 season.
“Southern had all of the momentum,” Saint Rose head coach Brian Goodale said. “I said to the team to dig down. We chipped away and I ‘m proud that we fought.”
Southern grabbed the 7-4 lead in the first set and made it hold up for the rest of the set. Saint Rose cut the lead late to 22-18, but Southern would score the final three points of the set.
Southern jumped out to an early 8-3 lead in the second set, scoring eight of the first 11 points. Saint Rose would hang around and cut the lead to 22-16. Senior Megan Lyons would score the final three points of the set, with a kill and two service aces.
“We gained momentum and confidence, and we started to believe,” Goodale, who is in his 13th season at Saint Rose, said.
With the scored tied in the third set 6-6, Saint Rose grabbed the 9-6 lead with three consecutive points. Southern would later tie the set 16-16. After Saint Rose called timeout, they grabbed the lead 18-16, and then Southern made multiple errors down the stretch to lose the set. Southern committed 50 total errors in the match.
In the fourth set, Southern went on a 5-0 run to lead 6-1. With Southern leading 10-8, Saint Rose then shocked the Owls, scoring 17 of the next 24 points in the set. Saint Rose would go a 6-0 run to lead 14-10 that they would not relinquish.
The decisive fifth set was very tight with each team trading points. With the score tied, Saint Rose finally broke Southern with a 7-0 run to lead 14-7 and eventually took the match.
Southern and Saint Rose also needed five sets last season in Albany, N.Y., with Southern taking the match. The Owls had three players with double-double’s, including Megan Lyons, who had a match-high 20 kills and 13 digs. Kahrs led Saint Rose with 18 kills and 18 digs.
“We dug ourselves in a big hole,” Saint Rose senior Sarah Kahrs said. “We showed a lot of heart, and it was so much fun.”
Kahrs led the team with a double-double, 16 kills on 45 attacks and 10 digs. Senior Aubrey Bobo also had a double-double, 12 kills and 11 digs. Freshman Katy Daniels had 23 digs.
“We bounced back and showed our abiliites,” Kahrs said.
Sophomore Lauren McVey led Southern a double-double, 12 kills on 41 attacks and 18 digs. Senior Megan Lyons had eight kills, 10 digs and six services aces. Senior Megan Hiss had 10 kills and eight digs. Junior Kimberly Lachowicz had 39 assists.
Saint Rose led the match in kills (51-49), and digs (74-64). Southern led in total attacks (171- 143). Southern accounted for 15 service aces in the match. Each team recorded 19 blocks.
