NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The College of New Rochelle Womens Volleyball team went up against some tough competition this weekend at the Kean Invitational. The Blue Angels welcomed the challenge by taking three out of the four matches to climb above the .500 mark and now sit at 10-9 overall.
CNR opened the Friday night competition with an impressive win over Alvernia 3-1 (25-23, 30-28, 18-25, 25-23), but later in the nightcap topped that by stunning the hosts with a 3-0 thumping (25-20, 25-23, 25-21). The win over Kean was the program’s first ever against the Cougars – who are now 11-8 on the year.
Saturday, CNR was setback by a 3-1 loss to The Catholic University (12-25, 11-25, 25-23, 12-25) but finished off its Invitational schedule with a 3-1 rally from behind victory over Baruch (20-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-23). Catholic won all four contests this weekend to improve to an impressive 19-5 mark.
Game Leaders:
vs. Alvernia
Kills – Cristal Liciaga (San Juan, PR) – 12
Assists – Melanie Ann Lopez Soto ( Gurabo, PR) – 22
Digs – Brianna Garcia (San Juan, PR) – 14
Aces – Cristal Liciaga – 4
vs. Kean
Kills – Cristal Liciaga – 11
Assists – Melanie Ann Lopez Soto – 18
Digs – Brianna Garcia – 12
Aces – Tiany Perez Diaz (Juncos, PR) – 3
vs. Catholic
Kills – Cristal Liciaga – 10
Assists – Melanie Ann Lopez Soto – 16
Digs – Brianna Garcia – 17
Aces – Stephanie Garcia (Chino, CA) – 2
vs. Baruch
Kills – Cristal Liciaga – 20
Assists – Melanie Ann Lopez Soto – 23
Digs – Brianna Garcia – 19
Aces – Melanie Ann Lopez Soto – 4
The Kean victory was spurred by a balanced attack from Liciaga, who finished the weekend with 53 kills, and freshmen Imani Debose (Garden Grove) and freshmen Simaima Fukofuka (Carson, CA) who finished with 10, 8, and 6 kills respectively. Kean was tough at the net winning the blocks battle 9-1, but CNR won the battle on the floor 48-38 in digs and served far better with 8 aces to Kean’s 3.
The serving game was key in the Baruch come-from-behind win as CNR totaled 11 aces en route to the victory.
For her efforts, Liciaga was named to the All-Tournament team.
The Blue Angels will return to action on Monday with a tri-match at Pratt which includes NJCU.