QU Volleyball Goes The Distance For First Postseason Win Since 2000

Friday, November 18

Fairfield, CT

5:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

20-12

Niagara University

12-19

Niagara

Quinnipiac

QU Volleyball Goes The Distance For First Postseason Win Since 2000

11/18/2016 7:58:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The third-seeded Quinnipiac volleyball team fought off a match point in the fifth set and closed out a 3-0 run to take a 3-2 win over sixth-seeded Niagara on Friday afternoon in the opening round of the 2016 MAAC Volleyball Tournament at Fairfield University's Alumni Hall.

Set scores were 19-25, 25-21, 25-21, 19-25, 16-14 as freshman outside hitter Natalie Alechko (Old Tappan, N.J.) had the winning kill on match point. Quinnipiac picked up its 20th win of the season (20-12), doubling its previous program best as full Division I members (10 wins in 2000 and 2002). The Bobcats also advance to the MAAC semifinals to take on second-seeded Marist tomorrow at 5 p.m., its first league semifinal appearance since the 2000 season in the Northeast Conference.

"It's a really emotional win for us," said senior middle hitter Allison Leigh (Palmer, Alaska). "We're all crying in the locker room because of how much this win meant to us, just coming so far from where the program has been and having it come all the way down to the fifth set. We need a little time to regroup tonight and then get ready to play the next one tomorrow."

The Bobcats led 13-10 in the fifth set after junior middle hitter Elizabeth Kloos (Munster, Ind.) accounted for her third straight Quinnipiac point with a kill. However, Niagara answered the challenge and came back with four straight points, the last coming when Madison May dropped a defensive attack into a vacated corner of the court to give Niagara a chance to win the match.

Niagara hit the net on its next attack to tie the score 14-14, and Leigh followed with a kill to give the Bobcats their first match point. Niagara had a bid to tie it back up, but freshman libero Alejandra Rodriguez (Toa Alta, P.R.) had a huge dig to hit the ball high up into the scoreboard. The ball descended to freshman setter Maria Pansari (Whitehouse Station, N.J.), who played it back to Alechko, and her swing from the back row eluded Niagara's dig effort in the corner and fell in to advance to the semifinals, as Quinnipiac's three MAAC All-Rookie selections combined on the winning play.

The Bobcats dropped the first set but came back to take the second set 25-21 and level the match 1-1. With the score tied 10-10, sophomore outside hitter Kat Miller (Collegeville, Pa.) had a kill and block to give the Bobcats the lead for good at 12-10. After a Niagara point to close to 12-11, Quinnipiac scored the next four points, two on aces from senior defensive specialist Cody Michaels (Versailles, Ky.) to take a 16-11 lead. Another ace from freshman libero Alejandra Rodriguez (Toa Alta, P.R.) made it 19-12, and the Bobcats went on to take the set 25-21 on a kill from sophomore outside hitter Jen Coffey (Merrimack, N.H.).

The third set was tied 14-14, but the Bobcats used a gradual 8-3 run to take control at 22-17 on a kill from Coffey. Niagara got back within 23-21, but Miller came through with a big kill to give Quinnipiac three set points, and an error put the Bobcats ahead 2-1.

Niagara pulled away in the second half of the fourth set 25-17 to force the match to a fifth and deciding set. The set was tied 11-11, but the Purple Eagles scored the next three points and kept the momentum up the rest of the frame, getting the last four points, the last on a kill from Madison May, to take a 25-17 win and level the match at 2-2.

In the first set, Quinnipiac jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead behind a pair of kills from Coffey. The fourth kill of the set from Coffey tied the score 9-9, but Niagara surged ahead 15-12 at the first media timeout and went on to take a 25-19 win on a Nicole Matheis kill, her sixth of the set.

Coffey led a balanced Quinnipiac offense with 17 kills, while Alechko and Miller had 13 apiece and Kloos added 10. Pansari had 57 assists, one shy of her personal high set against Rider, and is now just 30 assists shy of Quinnipiac's record for all divisions, set by Jen McClain in 1998. Rodriguez had 17 digs to lead the defense, while Alechko and Miller each had 10 to record double-doubles. Senior Cody Michaels (Versailles, Ky.) had five digs, giving her 990 in her career heading into the semifinals.

In addition to it being the first time the Bobcats have ever advanced to the MAAC semifinals and the 20th win, it was also the first time Quinnipiac has ever defeated Niagara after coming in 0-9. The Purple Eagles are now the sixth different team that the Bobcats have defeated this season for the first time (five of them MAAC foes). Top-seeded Fairfield is the only conference foe left that Quinnipiac is winless against in the series history.

Quinnipiac and Marist split during the regular season, with the Bobcats winning a five-setter at home (18-16 in the fifth set) and falling in straight sets at Poughkeepise.