FAIRFIELD, Conn. - The Fairleigh Dickinson volleyball team dropped a conference match at Sacred Heart on Saturday afternoon.
The Pioneers, who are ranked No. 1 in the Northeast Conference, swept the Knights. Sacred Heart won the first set 25-9, the second set 25-13 and the third set 25-12.
With the loss, Fairleigh Dickinson drops to 3-27 overall and 1-11 in conference play. The Pioneers improve to 18-7 on the season and 11-1 in the NEC.
The Pioneers wasted no time, taking a commanding 7-1 lead to open the first set. Back-to-back kills from Sacred Hearts' Liisel Nelis put the Pioneers up by ten points and the Knights could not recover. Fairleigh Dickinson struggled on offense, gaining most of its points from Sacred Heart errors. An Abigail Strebig (Brookfield, Wisc./Brookfield Central) kill cut the Pioneers' lead to 17-8, but the Knights would go on to score just one more point in the first set, on a bad Pioneers' set.
The second set started out a little more evenly matched between the two teams and was tied several times. A kill from Caroline Laton (Kinnelon, N.J./Kinnelon) knotted things up 5-5 before the Pioneers scored four points in a row to take a 9-5 lead. Fairleigh Dickinson showed its typical tenacity to come back and tie the set, 9-9 on a Rebecca Sabol (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) kill. The Knights took a brief 10-9 lead but the Pioneers soon tied things up and went on to grab a 16-10 advantange. Sacred Heart dominated the rest of the second set, outscoring the Knights 9-3.
In the third and final set, things started off much like the second set. The teams exchanged points in the beginning and a block from Laton and Strebig tied up the set at four. Two kills from Nelis, a kill from Maddie Losure and a service ace from Makayla Dole gave the Pioneers an 8-4 edge. An Erika Sullivan (Elk Grove, Calif./Pleasant Grove) kill closed the Sacred Heart lead to 12-7 but the Pioneeres scored four straight to take a 16-7 lead. Once again, the Pioneers picked up steam and outscore the Knights 9-4 to close out the set and the match.
Sacred Heart recorded a .372 hitting percentage for the day compared to the Knights -.013. The Pioneers also had 44 kills compared the Knights 14.
Fairleigh Dickinson is back at home next weekend in the final two matches of the regular season. On Saturday, they host Central Connecticut at 1 p.m. before facing Bryant on Sunday at 3 p.m.
