Philadelphia, PA – Junior outside hitter Kelsie Wills posted 17 kills and seven digs and junior right side Nuria Lopes da Silva added 12 kills and a .409 attack percentage but the Hofstra Volleyball team fell in four sets to Brown on Friday afternoon at the Temple Invitational.
Hofstra, which also got 13 kills and four blocks from junior outside hitter Emily Burke, fell to 7-5 with the loss. Brown improved to 3-5.
A wildly-entertaining first set went “overtime” before Brown narrowly escaped with a 33-31 victory. Hofstra looked to be in control as it held a 20-14 lead late in the stanza before the Bears began to rally. Down six, Brown used a 7-1 scoring run to knot the score at 21 before eventually taking a 23-22 lead. The two squads would battle back and forth with Hofstra fighting off multiple set points before a kill from Maddie Lord ended the Pride's longest set in terms of points scored during the 25-point scoring era (since 2008).
The two evenly-matched squads would have another barnburner in the second stanza, but this time Hofstra turned the tables and battled back from a deficit before eventually earning a 26-24 win. Trailing 20-16, the Pride scored four straight points to even the set at 20 and a kill from Wills later in the stanza would give Hofstra a 24-23 lead. After an attack error by the Bears, sophomore setter Kaitlyn Krause ended the set with a kill and tied the match at one set apiece.
The third set would be the first one of the match that didn't go “extra” as Brown would take a 2-1 lead in the contest with a 25-22 triumph.
It was tight throughout the third stanza with the score even at 21 following a kill from the Pride's Burke before Brown scored four of the final five points en route to the three-point victory.
Brown would put the finishing touches on the four-set win as they pulled away for a 25-18 win in the final stanza. The set was tied at 11 before the Bears scored five straight to take a 16-11 lead and never looked back in earning the win over the Pride in the third-ever meeting between the schools.
Krause had 29 assists and five digs for Hofstra, which also got 12 digs from freshman libero Sophia Black. Freshman setter Hannah Klemm added 24 assists and eight digs.
Payton Smith led the Bears with 10 kills, while Kathryn Conner added 18 digs.
Hofstra returns to action at the Temple Invitational on Saturday. The Pride will take on Delaware State at 4 p.m. before closing tournament play with a 7 p.m. match against the host Owls.
