Harrisonburg, VA – The Hofstra Volleyball season came to an end Friday night in a heartbreaking five-set loss to the top seed College of Charleston in the semifinals of the 2017 Colonial Athletic Association Volleyball Championship at Sinclair Gymnasium on the campus of James Madison University. The scores of the match were 25-21, 20-25, 25-22, 21-25 and 6-15.

Hofstra, which was the fifth-seed in the conference tournament, finishes the season with an 18-14 overall record including a 9-7 mark during the CAA regular season. The Cougars of Charleston advance to the CAA Championship match against the host and defending conference champions, James Madison, the third-seed, on Saturday at 4 p.m.

In Friday's semifinal against Charleston, Hofstra was led by sophomore Laura Masciullo with 21 kills, freshman Ivania Ortiz had 14 kills and 16 digs and junior Michela Rucli added 13 kills and had a team-high .346 attack percentage. Sophomore Luisa Sydlik added 55 assists. The Pride had a .200 attack percentage (65-28-185) in the contest.

Charleston was led by Devon Rachel with 24 kills and 15 digs and Allison Beckman with 55 assists and 16 digs.

The Pride and the Cougars battled throughout the first set. After Charleston took a 15-13 lead, Hofstra rattled off four consecutive points to take a 17-15 lead. The Cougars closed to within one at 18-17 but the Pride had two three-point runs before Ivania Ortiz sealed the set with a kill for the 25-21 victory.

The early going of set two was another battle before the Pride pulled ahead 11-8. But Charleston tallied six consecutive points to take a 14-11 lead. After the Cougars extended the lead to 20-15, Hofstra rallied with three unanswered points to close to 20-18. But Charleston put down five of the next seven points to tie the match with the 25-20 victory.

Hofstra and Charleston found themselves tied at 17-all in the third set before Hofstra tallied five consecutive points to open up a 22-17 advantage. The Cougars rallied by scoring five of the next six points to close to 23-22. But Hofstra freshmen Sanne Maring and Ivania Ortiz closed out the set with kills giving the Pride a 2-1 lead in the contest. Hofstra had its best set of the contest in the third set, hitting .317 with 16 kills.

Charleston scored five of the first seven points in the fourth set and never trailed although the Pride did close to within one at 17-16 before the Cougars tallied five straight points on the way to a 25-21 win in the set to even the match.

The deciding fifth set saw Charleston go on a five-point run to open up an 8-3 lead on the way to the 15-6 victory. While Charleston was having their best attack percentage (.467) in the fifth set, the Pride had its worse with a .062 attack percentage.

Notes:
- The Pride were making their sixth appearance in the CAA Championship
- Hofstra is now 5-9 all-time against the Cougars of Charleston
- The Pride has recorded six consecutive winning seasons including in all four of Coach Emily Mansur's years.
- Laura Masciullo led the Pride or was tied for the team lead in kills 21 times this season
- Luisa Sydlik led the Pride in assists in all 32 matches.
- Ivania Ortiz recorded her eighth double-double of the season with 14 kills and 16 digs.