Towson, MD - The 2021 season of Hofstra volleyball concluded today with a 3-1 defeat to Elon in the semifinals of the Colonial Athletic Association Championship from Towson's SECU Arena. The sixth-seed in the conference championship, Hofstra's final record stands at 15-14. Elon improves to 17-15 and advances to the CAA Championship Game against host and top-seed Towson.

The set score was 25-18, 25-23, 20-25, 25-19 for the Phoenix.

Ana Martinovic led the Pride with 12 kills and 11 digs against the Phoenix, and Zyare Abdul-Rahim posted 11 kills to go with her team-leading .276 hitting percentage.

The score was tied at 5-5 early in the first set before Elon scored the next four points to jump out to a 9-5 lead. The lead grew to 17-12 in favor of the second-seeded Phoenix, but Hofstra battled back with three straight points off a Martinovic kill, an Elon attack error, and a block by Athina Dimitriadis and Beatriz Alves. However, it would be the closest Hofstra would get to tying the score, as Elon finished out the set with eight of the final 11 points to win, 25-18.

Elon led for much of the early going in the second set, but Hofstra kept to within one numerous times thanks to timely kills from its veteran leaders. The Pride pulled ahead to lead 13-11 thanks to a kill by Martinovic and consecutive Elon attacking errors. Elon tied the score numerous times as the teams went point-for-point down the stretch until the Phoenix scored three straight to pull ahead 19-17. The Pride kept battling and tied the score at 23-23 thanks to a Sarah Pierre kill, but Elon would take the set with consecutive kills from Leah Daniel.

Elon started off red-hot with six of the first nine kills of set three before eventually leading 10-4 in the early stages. Hofstra would start to chip away at the six-point deficit an 8-1 run put the Pride 21-19. The Pride rattled off four straight points, with kills by Dimitriadis and Bianca Bucciarelli and an Elon error, giving the Pride a 25-20 set win. The third set was Hofstra's best of the night, with 16 kills and a hitting percentage of .213, while Elon committed six errors and hit at a clip of just .119.

Hofstra fell behind to another big Elon lead in the fourth set, trailing by as many as eight points, before rallying with four straight points. The Pride fought and pulled to within three down the stretch, but they couldn't close the gap any further as Elon would close out the set, and the match, with five of the final seven points.

Daniel led all players with 15 kills in the match, and she was joined in double-figures by Kellyn Trowse with 11 and Jenn Krzeminski with 10.

NOTES:
-Hofstra is now 10-5 all-time against Elon.
-CAA Libero of the Year Chiara Cucco posted a personal-best 35 digs. She finished the year with a CAA-leading 527 digs, the fifth-most digs in a season in Hofstra volleyball history.
-CAA Rookie of the Beatriz Alves assisted on 41 kills against the Phoenix. This was her third consecutive match with 40+ assists, and it was the 11th time this season she assisted 40 or more times.
-Martinovic's 12 kills gives her 824 kills for her Hofstra career.