Williamsburg, VA - The Hofstra University volleyball team heads into its bye week squarely in the thick of the CAA regular-season title race after a thrilling 3-2 (21-25, 25-14, 25-18, 21-25, 15-10) win over William & Mary on Friday at Kaplan Arena.
Holding firm in second place, just one loss behind unbeaten Charleston (10-0 CAA), the Pride (16-4, 11-1 CAA) have opened up a three-game cushion over third-place Towson with three weeks remaining.
William & Mary gave Hofstra all it could handle for a second-straight night, forcing a fifth set in a regular-season meeting between the teams for the first time in nearly a decade. The Pride and Tribe last went the distance in the 2022 CAA Tournament quarterfinals, a five-set Hofstra loss.
With the fifth set tied 10-10, the Pride handed the ball to
Melis Basaran, who served five unanswered points to silence the upset bid.
Following a similar script to the night before, Hofstra dropped a tough first set before rallying. The Pride used a 14-2 run to cruise to a 25-14 win in the second, then rode a 26-6 run that carried into the third set, which they took 25-18.
Though the Pride have struggled to hit above .200 on the road in October, they've won three of their last four away from the PEC, needing 18 total sets to do it.
On another tough hitting night for many of the starters,
Dawn Pena came off the bench for seven kills on .312 hitting.
Valentina Lopez Moya added four kills and a career-high 11 blocks, the most by a Hofstra player this season and the most since
Julia Amorim rejected 14 attempts against Temple last season (Sept. 14, 2025).
Beatriz Braga kept rolling with 19 kills and 14 digs for her tenth double-double of the season. She now sits 16 kills shy of 1,000 for her career, with a weekend series at Towson up next on Nov. 6-7.
Towson is also very much in the CAA postseason picture, and the Pride and Tigers have split each of the last two season series, with three of those four matches going five sets.
NOTES
- The Pride remain unbeaten in their last 10 matches against the Tribe in Williamsburg.
- The win ties Hofstra's second-longest winning streak against a conference opponent at six (also vs. North Carolina A&T and Northeastern). The longest is eight against Hampton.
- The Pride are now 4-2 in five-set matches, winning their last four after dropping their first two this season.
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Sonja Rundcrantz recorded her first double-double since Sept. 26 at Stony Brook, with 19 assists and a career-high 19 digs.
