NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Fresh off picking up their third straight Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship, the College of New Rochelle women’s volleyball team travelled to highly-touted Stevens Institute for a non-conference match Wednesday night. The end result was a hard fought 3-0 loss to the Ducks by scores of 25-19, 25-17, and 25-14.
After jumping out to an early 3-1 lead, CNR watched as Stevens slowly reclaimed the lead 5-3. The Ducks would soon follow with a four point run to push their lead to 12-6. The Blue Angels fought back to make it interesting when they climbed to within three at 18-15 off a kill by sophomore Fabiola Padilla Rios (San Juan, PR). Stevens was able to stave off the late rally and win the first frame 25-19.
In the second, CNR again kept it close early as the teams ran out to a 5-5 tie off an ace by sophomore Rosa Angeles (Yonkers, NY). After that it was Stevens who put together two four-point runs around CNR points to pull out to a comfortable lead and maintained that to the end.
Padilla Rios led the Blue Angels with seven kills. Junior Melanie Ann Lopez Soto (Gurabo, PR) ended the match with 18 assists, while defensively freshmen Stephanie Garcia (Chino,. CA) finished with a career-high 22 digs.
CNR will wrap up its regular season with a trip to SUNYIT in Utica, NY this weekend. They will play Oswego and Alfred University on Saturday and then play the hosts on Sunday.
