By Ari Strait
The defending America East champion Northeastern Huskies were upset in five games by the third ranked Stony Brook Seawolves at Durham, New Hampshire last Saturday.
Northeastern (18-15, 10-2) dropped each of the first two games, the second of which featured nine ties, eight lead changes, and was tied 26-26 before the Seawolves (22-13, 7-5) finally took it 30-28. The Huskies then tied the match at two games apiece with victories in the third and fourth game.
However, a higher than anticipated level of ball control on the part of the Seawolves led to a 15-8 victory in game five and a 3-2 defeat overall.
“One of the things that was very unexpected was the difference in the serve and receive game. Stony Brook hadn’t passed anywhere near as well as they did in the championships. We talk about the quality of the pass, and getting in a system. Stony Brook was in system a lot more than we were,” said head coach Ken Nichols.
Seawolves sophomore setter Julie Zub finished with 61 of her team’s 74 assists, and was one of the primary reasons Stony Brook ended up with a team hitting percentage of .234, 84 points higher than the Huskies’ .150 average.
The Husky defense put up solid numbers, as senior Erin Spangler finished just one block shy of the entire Stony Brook team total, and senior Kelly Cognac, sophomore Rebecca Holland and senior Lindsay Wagner had 24, 17 and 14 digs respectively.
Wagner also led the offensive charge, slamming down a match high 25 kills from her outside hitter position. Her .345 hitting percentage and three service aces were also match highs in what proved to be her last game as a member of Northeastern University’s volleyball team.
America East Rookie of the Year Larissa Adomat and Holland were the other Huskies to finish with double-digit kill totals, notching 13 and 12 respectively. Junior setter Kristin Ursillo, the America East Setter of the Year, successfully set up her teammates 52 times, tallying all but four of her teams assists.
Nichols believes attitude played a significant role in letting Stony Brook finish on top.
“We had a very simple game plan. They were over-committing their blocks to our middles, and we made an adjustment to it. Our outsides were just playing so well. We were just making too many errors. We played good level ball, Stony Brook played real well. They played like they had nothing to lose,” he said.
Led by senior LaToya Byerly and her team-high 19 kills, the Seawolves offensive attack actually finished with more kills in less attempts than their Husky counterparts, while making the same number of errors. Three other Seawolves finished with double-digit kill totals as Stony Brook defeated Northeastern for the second time this season.
The University of New Hampshire, who had defeated the University of Albany in their semifinal match, defeated Stony Brook for the America East championship in four games for its first conference championship since 1998.
