College Park, NY – Junior outside hitter
Veronika Kostova had a match-high 14 kills, junior setter
Hannah Klemm tallied a match-high 26 assists and freshman libero
Luisa Domingues tallied a match-high 14 digs, but it was not enough as the Hofstra Volleyball team suffered its first loss of the 2015 season in a 3-0 defeat to Maryland on Saturday afternoon at the Maryland Invitational.
Set scores were 25-22, 25-13 and 27-25 in favor of the Terps.
Hofstra falls to 2-1 with the loss, while Maryland continued its perfect season and is now 3-0 this year.
Trailing 22-19 late in the first set, Hofstra would rally and score five straight points to put the Pride in a position to take the first stanza. Kostova led the way during the run with kills on three straight points. Up by two, 24-22, Hofstra was unable to put Maryland away and the Terps closed the set with a 5-1 scoring run to take the early lead in the match.
In the second set Hofstra was never able to get on track offensively and a negative .091 hitting percentage by the Pride allowed Maryland to push their lead to 2-0 in the contest.
Hofstra would trail 21-16 late in the third stanza before mounting a rally. The Pride used an 8-1 run to push the lead to 24-22 in their favor, but once again the Terps had an answer and scored five of the final six points in the set to earn the victory.
Hofstra closes play at the Maryland Invitational with a 5:30 p.m. match against Morgan State.
NOTES- Kostova has notched double figures in kills in each of the Pride's three matches this season.
- Domingues has tallied double figures in digs in each of the Pride's three matches this season.
- Freshman middle blocker
Michela Rucli had five blocks against Maryland and now has at least five blocks in each of Hofstra's three matches this season.
- Hofstra is now 4-6 all-time against Maryland. It marked the first meeting since 1996.
- This marked the second straight year Hofstra has faced a member of the Big Ten Conference has the Pride took on Nebraska in the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
