Volleyball Closes out the Monroe Invitational with a Pair of Wins

Volleyball Closes out the Monroe Invitational with a Pair of Wins

Written By: Talk of the Sound News

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The Monroe College volleyball team made it a perfect 4-0 at the Monroe College Invitational with a pair of victories over FIT and Nassau Community College on Sunday.  The team has remained perfect at 25-0 and has dropped just three sets all season.  The scores of game one were 25-14, 25-17 and 25-14.  The second game went 25-5, 25-16 and  25-22.

The Monroe College volleyball team must have suffered a bit of jetlag after a long day of matches on Saturday because they came out slowly against FIT in the opener on Sunday.  With the match all square at 4-4, the Mustangs went on a 3-0 run to grab an 8-5 lead.  From there, FIT fought back and got and tied the score at 9-9.  The Mustangs took control from there.

Behind the strong serving of Barbara Maximiano, Monroe capitalized with a 6-0 run to grab a 15-9 lead and force the Tigers into a timeout.  The onslaught continued out of the respite.  Maximiano restarted play with an ace then added a kill to make the score 17-9.  She finally served one long to get FIT back on the scoreboard at 17-10. 

Jourdan Hodge recorded a couple of kills on the next two possessions and Monroe was up 20-12.  The Mustangs won the opening set, 25-14 when a Neysha Gonzalez serve was hit out of bounds.

The Mustangs were more streamlined in the second set.  They scored the first four points, forcing the Tigers into a timeout.  Following the intermission, FIT tallied three straight points to get within 4-3.  Indira Rojas stopped with scoring spree with a cheeky kill after disguising where her attack would land. 

Momentum continued for Monroe as Maximiano served a pair of rallies that led to points for her side and a 7-3 lead.  The lead got as steep as 11 points, at 21-10.  Monroe won the set, 25-17, when Karen Souza recorded a kill.

Monroe jumped ahead, 5-2 in the third set before an FIT serve was misplayed to make it 5-3.  After the Tigerts’ point,  the Mustangs scored two straight.  The seventh point came from a Maximiano kill following a fantastic, diving dig from Nautica Vega.  Vega took the serve and the lead grew to 9-3.

The advantage got as large as 12 points, 23-11, behind a pair of Gabriella Nobrega service aces and a Coryatt kill.   The set went to Monroe, 25-14.  The final point came  on a service error from FIT.

The Mustangs opened the game with Nassau in earnest scoring on a sortie of plays that included a Ramos kill, a Rojas ace, an attack error, a Maximiano kill and another error.  Monroe led 5-0 before Nassau called a timeout.

Following the break, the Mustangs pushed the advantage to 8-0 courtesy of two Nassau errors and another Rojas ace.  After Nassau finally got on the board to make it 8-1, Monroe rattled off four straight points to take a 12-2 lead.  They scored three more times to force Nassau into its final timeout of the set.  The Mustangs dominated the set and took it, 25-5.

Set two was more evenly paced as the score was tied several times early.  With the score knotted at 5-5, Monroe went on a 3-0 run to take an 8-5 lead.  The strong serving of Cristen Coryatt keyed the scoring.  Nassau countered with a 4-0 run of its own to grab a 9-8 lead.   Monroe tied the score at 9-9 due to a Nassau attack error.  Two of the next three points went to the Mustangs thanks to a pair of kills from Ramos, the first a sneaky little kill that placed in the middle of the defense, the second, a blast that nearly dented the floor. 

Monroe took control of the sent from there. Ahead 13-12, the Mustangs scored five straight to grab an 18-12 lead, forcing Nassau into a timeout.  Monroe pulled ahead, winning seven of the next 11 points and taking the set, 25-16.

The Mustangs fell behind in the third set, 4-1.   They evened the score at 7-7 on a block assist from Ramos and Hodge.  A Coryatt serve put them up 8-7 and forced Nassau into a timeout.  Coryatt made it 9-7 with a demonstrative kill and then 10-7 with a strong serve.

Nassau tied it at 11-11 but Ramos killed an attack to make it 12-11, Monroe.  The Mustangs methodically pulled away, leading 20-15 on a kill from Coryatt that made Nassau use its second timeout.  After the break, Nassau retaliated with three points to make it 20-18.  The Mustangs took the final set, 25-22, when Ramos slammed the final point.

The Monroe College volleyball team returns to action on Friday, October 2, when they travel to Maryland to face Hagerstown.  The opening serve is set for 4:30 PM.