South Orange, NJ – Junior outside hitter Veronika Kostova tallied a career-high 24 kills and also added five blocks, but it wasn't enough as the Hofstra Volleyball team dropped a hard-fought five-set match to Seton Hall on Saturday afternoon at the Seton Hall Classic at Walsh Gymnasium. 

The match pitted a pair of teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament a season ago and it didn't disappoint. The two squads battled back and forth with the Pirates earning the narrow two-point win in the final set. 

Set scores were 25-22, 21-25, 25-21, 16-25 and 15-13 in favor of Seton Hall. The Pirates improved to 3-2 with the win, while Hofstra falls to 4-3. The Pride will conclude play at the tournament later today with a 5:30 p.m. match against Notre Dame. 

Hofstra had to rally on a pair of occasions just to send the match to the fifth set as wins in the first and third set put Seton Hall ahead 1-0 and 2-1 in the contest. 

The match was the Pride's first five-setter of the season and the program's first since winning the Colonial Athletic Association Championship over Charleston this past November. 

After a dominating win in the fourth set by nine points, Hofstra and Seton Hall headed to the decisive final stanza. 

The Pride was in control early, leading 5-1 and forcing Seton Hall to call a time out. A kill from freshman middle blocker Michela Rucli would keep Hofstra ahead at 9-4 later in the set before the Pirates mounted their rally. Seton Hall scored five straight points to earn a 10-9 lead before a kill from senior right side Kaitlyn Krause stemmed the tide and knotted the score at 10. The set would be knotted at 13 before a Seton Hall service ace pushed it to match point and the contest would end on a Pride attack error. 

Sophomore middle blocker Leticia Valente was also in double figures for Hofstra with 15 kills and added five digs. Junior setter Hannah Klemm dished out 52 assists for the Pride, while freshman libero Luisa Domingues and senior defensive specialist Corrina Delgadillo picked up 19 and 16 digs, respectively. 

Grace Forren led Seton Hall with 15 kills and also had 10 digs. Tessa Fournier had a match-high 23 digs for the Pirates, while Sophia Coffey posted 45 assists and nine digs. 

Notes
- Hofstra went 2-2 in five-set matches in 2014. 
- Hofstra is now 7-6 all-time against Seton Hall. 
- The 24 kills by Kostova broke her previous career-high of 18 set against Duquesne earlier this season. 
- Hofstra has lost back-to-back matches for the first time since November 8 and 10, 2013. 
- Rucli continued her strong blocking as she had eight in the match and has now tallied five or more blocks in five of the Pride's seven matches this season. 
- The match was Hofstra's second this season against a team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2014 as the Pride defeated Siena earlier this week in four sets.