SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Fairleigh Dickinson volleyball team fell in straight sets at Bryant on Friday night 25-18, 25-16, 25-18 at the Chace Athletic Center.
Freshman
Magdalena Maksimovic paced the Knights (5-21, 1-10 NEC) in the loss with double-digit kills for the third-straight outing and the fourth time in the team's last five matches. Maksimovic finished with a team-best 11 kills with just three attacks on a match-high 31 total attacks.
Kirstyn Sperry led the Bulldogs (18-11, 8-3 NEC) with 12 kills on 20 attacks and teammate Ally Lunsford totaled 10 kills on 19 attacks.
In the win, the Bulldogs finished with a team attack percentage of .301 and limited the Knights to .097.
The Bulldogs jumped on the Knights in the opening set, taking a 10-4 lead in the early going. They maintained their cushion for the duration of the set for a 1-0 advantage.
In the second frame, the Knights dug themselves a 7-2 hole before freshman
Nataliya Rybakova served them back into the game to make it an 9-8 contest. Rybakova tallied one of her team-high three aces during that spurt and also added six kills and five digs to her ledger in the loss.
Leading by one, the Bulldogs answered with six straight tallies to pull away before ultimately closing out the nine-point win.
After falling behind again in the third set, the Knights fought back to within one, 9-8 thanks to a pair of kills by Maksimovic and one from Rybakova. But for the second set in a row, the Bulldogs had the answer and followed with another 6-0 run to open up a comfortable lead. Sperry registered two kills and served five points over that span.
The Bulldogs maintained a lead of at least five points for the duration of the final set en route to the clinching victory.
Senior
Taylor Wyckoff was the lone other Knight to record multiple kills and finished with three, while freshman setter
McKenna Setterlund totaled 19 assists and five digs.
The Knights are back in action tomorrow when they travel to New Britain, Connecticut to face Central Connecticut State at 4:00 p.m.
