Following a difficult tournament at Yale, the Boston College volleyball team fought its way to two victories in three games at Long Island University Brooklyn this weekend. BC began the tournament against Temple University on Friday night in what would be a lengthy match. The Eagles handled the first two sets with relative ease, however, finishing 25-18 and 25-17, respectively.
The team hoped to close out the match in three sets, which would have made for its fourth sweep of the year. The Owls had other plans, however, forcing the match to carry on. The two teams evenly traded points through the beginning of the game. Temple took its first lead of the match, pulling one point ahead of BC, 14-15, though the Eagles quickly rallied.
While BC headed into the final few points with a 20-18 lead, Temple proved too strong to go down. The teams traded another hard-fought 10 points before the Owls finally came out on top, 29-31.
The Eagles found themselves playing from behind for most of the fourth set, eventually succumbing to the Owls’ newfound momentum, 17-21. BC turned on the motor again in the fifth and final set, with five of its hitters racking up double-digit kills. Although Temple would push to a 14-14 tie, two attack errors would give the set and match to BC.
Outside hitter Katty Workman and middle hitter Brittany Pavich led the effort with 18 kills each, while Sol Calvete highlighted the defensive performance with 19 digs. This win gave the team its first 3-2 win of the season.
BC opened early Saturday morning in a match against the host of the tournament, LIU Brooklyn.
BC began this match similarly to its first set against Temple, with tough, back-and-forth points, culminating in an Eagle run toward the end of the set that gave the team a 1-0 lead. Set two also began this way, but the Eagles drifted behind halfway through the set and eventually lost 16-25.
The Blackbirds held onto their momentum for the third set, but BC pushed back, scoring 23 points before falling. BC continued to push in the fourth set, where the Eagles battled back from a five-point deficit.
The team took this fourth set 27-25, forcing LIU Brooklyn into a fifth set. The Eagles didn’t have enough to close out a victory in this match, however, sticking close by the Blackbirds throughout, but falling 15-13 and 2-3 in the match. Workman again led the team in kills with 18, while Calvete and Pavich were the only other two Eagles players in double digits, finishing with 12 and 10, respectively.
The Eagles wrapped up the third of three games against Northern Kentucky, a team that had just improved to 6-2 this season after a 3-1 win over Temple. While the Eagles actually were down multiple times in the first two sets, the team recovered both times, winning 25-21 and 25-20. The Eagles never looked back from there, defeating Northern Kentucky 25-18 to pick up their fourth sweep and fifth win of the year.
Calvete, Workman, and Pavich again led this game in kills, with 11, 10, and 10, respectively. Courtney Castle had 25 digs, while Kellie Barnum totaled 28 assists—both team highs for this final game.
Volleyball’s next match will be this Friday night, when the Eagles will hope to come out on top against a .500-Northeastern squad.
Featured Image by Graham Beck / Heights Senior Staff
