Fairfield, CT - Freshman Florencia Wolkowyski had a season-high 15 kills and junior Athina Dimitriadis came off the bench in the fifth set to spark the Pride as the Hofstra volleyball team captured a five-set win over Fairfield in the team's final match at the Fairfield Invitational on Saturday afternoon. 

Dimitriadis was a perfect 5-5 in the fifth set, tallying all five of her kills in the pivotal final set to help the Pride to its third win in its last four matches. Set scores were 25-20, 15-25, 27-25, 14-25, and 15-13 as Hofstra improved to 4-3 this season. Fairfield fell to 1-5 with the loss. 

Freshman Beatriz Alves continued her strong start to the season as she posted 48 assists, 10 digs, and five kills, while graduate student Ana Martinovic tallied 11 kills and 10 digs. 

Hofstra got off to a hot start in the match, hitting at a .361 clip with 15 kills on 36 attempts and only two errors to take an early 1-0 lead in the match. Fairfield would dominate in the second set to even the score before the Pride put themselves on a brink of a victory with a close win in the third stanza. Hofstra fought off a pair of set points in the third set and eventually closed the set with a 5-1 run to capture the 27-25 victory. Another win by the Stags in the fourth set would set up an exciting finish. 

The Pride looked to be in trouble in the final set, as a 4-0 scoring run by the Stags put Fairfield in front 8-4. Hofstra would slowly chip away at the deficit, though, and knotted the score at 11 after a 7-3 run that included a kill from junior Zyare Abdul-Rahim and Dimitriadis. The Pride regained the lead at 13-12 via a Martinovic service ace and used a Dimitraidis kill and an error from Fairfield for the final two points of the match and the five-set win. 

Abdul-Rahim finished with 10 kills and three blocks for the Pride, which also got seven kills and a team-high five blocks from junior Sarah Pierre. Freshman Chiara Cucco picked up 20 digs for Hofstra. 

KJ Johnson had 19 kills and 11 digs for Fairfield, while Blakely Montgomery posted 40 assists and 16 digs. 

Hofstra is back in action on Tuesday when it travels to Stony Brook for The Long Island Rivalry match. First serve is slated for 6 p.m. 

NOTES
- Hofstra is now 9-5 all-time against Fairfield. Today's match first the first encounter between the teams since a meeting in 2011. 
- Wolkowyski came into the match having totaled just six kills this season with a season-high of two against both Central Connecticut State and Seton Hall. 
- Graduate student Ana Martinovic and freshman Beatriz Alves were named to the all-tournament team for the Pride. 
- It was the third double-double of the season for both Martinovic and Alves. 
- Hofstra has now won three straight and seven of its last nine five-set matches.