Towson Volleyball defeats Hofstra 3-1 to tie the two-game series
By Jack Ahumada, Staff Writer
The Towson Tigers took down the Hofstra Pride 3-1 on Saturday in a Senior Day matchup at SECU Arena.
The victory was a response to Hofstra’s sweep against the Tigers just the day before.
Prior to the match, the Towson coaching staff honored Ava Drye, Tshilanda Diouf and Taylor Pagan during their Senior Day ceremony.
Hofstra claimed the first score of the game, but the Tigers quickly responded when Drye got her first kill of the match.
Both teams traded points back-and-forth until the Tigers climbed forward with a 5-1 run, leading Hofstra 19-15.
Despite the Pride’s effort to take back the lead, the set ended in Towson’s favor with a 6-2 scoring run, finished with a kill by Pagan.
“We kind of struggled yesterday (game one of the series against Hofstra) with being in our regular team rhythm,” Drye said. “I think today I feel like we really got to get more into that. The energy was up, and the vibes were just great today.”
The second set started similarly to the first with both teams trading points early.
The Tigers applied pressure on the Pride, going on a four point run with two blocks, one by Leber and one by sophomore opposite hitter Anna Rice, along with a service ace from libero Kayla Zanon.
A service error from Zanon gave Hofstra an opening to close the gap, which they used to tie the set 11-11.
Towson answered the momentum from the Pride with a 5-0 scoring run starting with a kill from sophomore middle blocker Malinah Purcell-Telefoni and ending with a block from Pagan and Purcell-Telefoni.
The Pride responded by making multiple scoring plays to shrink the score difference.
Despite the rally, Towson took the second set, 25-21.
Hofstra started the third set with a 5-1 run, and continued this momentum until an attack error from freshman outside hitter Melis Basaran allowed Towson to go on its own 5-1 run to tie the set at 14.
The back-and-forth continued until Hofstra had two integral blocks at the end of the set to win 26-24.
The fourth set was the closest of the match.
Any time the Tigers got ahead, the Pride responded with plays to take the lead.
Hofstra eventually took a 20-18 lead, but two kills from Drye gave Towson last-minute momentum.
The Tigers did not slow down, with Ava Drye delivering her 17th kill of the game to take a 23-21 lead.
“We knew that kid could bring it,” said Towson head coach Don Metil.
Tigers’ junior setter Kaitlyn Moran sent a powerful serve to secure the match for Towson, 25-21.
Towson finished the set 25-21 and won the match 3-1 to close out the final weekend at home for the Tigers.
“To win a championship in the CAA, you gotta play good for three days straight and we haven’t been proven to do that yet, so this was a good step in the right direction,” Metil said
Towson goes on the road to face Stony Brook in a two-game series, starting on Nov. 13 to finish regular season play.
