By Ari Strait
A wild string of matches in the past week tested both the strength and endurance of the Northeastern volleyball team, who emerged with three consecutive victories and sole possession of first place in the America East.
A 3-2 defeat of the University of Albany last Tuesday was followed by a 3-0 sweep of the University of Maryland at Baltimore County on Friday and a 3-2 win against Binghamton University. These wins, coupled with New Hampshire’s weekend loss against Stony Brook, reasserted the team’s control over the division.
At home versus Albany, a team the Huskies (21-7 overall, 9-1 conference) had beaten 3-0 in their America East season opener on Oct. 7, Northeastern took the first two games, dropped games three and four, and then fought out a decisive 15-10 win in the fifth game to secure the match.
Sophomore Larissa Adomat, who had entered the weekend with a team-high .333 hitting percentage on the season, also good for fourth in the America East, solidified her position atop that category with a 16-kill performance and a .394 mark for the day.
Albany outside hitters Eileen Rodriguez and Shelby Goldman, who combined for an astonishing 61 kills on 131 attempts, seemed to find holes in the Husky defense, but a team effort prevented the Great Danes from taking the match.
Once again, juniors Ashley Adamczyk and Rebecca Holland led the way, with 27 and 25 digs respectively. Overall, five Huskies tallied double-digit dig totals, en route to a team total of 128 on the day.
“Albany actually outplayed us a little on defense,” said coach Ken Nichols. “They were very scrappy, picking up a lot of balls. Eileen is very quick, very deceptive, and she’s left-handed, something we don’t see a lot of. With our scoring system, the officials, and the adrenaline of conference play, matches are going to be close.”
On Friday, Oct. 31, Northeastern traveled to UMBC (14-14, 3-7), to see if they could repeat the Oct. 18 defeat of the Retrievers at home on Solomon Court. UMBC, who had lost five of their previous six matches coming into the Northeastern face-off, was taken down in three games, 30-21, 30-27, and 30-26.
Adomat again finished with the team lead in kills, with 13, and committed only one error in 22 chances to end up with a .545 hitting percentage. UMBC junior Jocelyn Teoh, who had pounded down 29 kills in her team’s 3-1 loss the first time these two teams met, was held to 16 kills, and had her hitting percentage sliced from .324 to .143.
The Huskies’ serving picked up during this match, as the team totaled more aces than errors for the first time in three weeks. Adomat provided three of the team’s eight aces, and sophomore Lindsay Feller chipped in two more of her own.
“We spent a lot of time serving in the gym. The Stony Brook match reminded us we were serving too easy, and when you’re playing a team that has two strong middles, you have to serve tougher,” Nichols said.
In the third of the past week’s three matches, the Huskies needed five games and four match points to put away the Binghamton University Bearcats 18-16, another team they had originally defeated 3-0.
“It was a little frustrating,” Nichols said about the five-game matches against both Binghamton and Albany. “The team understands that when you’re on top of the hill, everyone’s trying to knock you off. Teams will absolutely raise their level to play us.”
