Sperry's first-career triple-double headlines Bulldog split in Hampton Inn-vitational

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Sophomore Kirstyn Sperry (Phoenix, Ariz.) needed just three sets to register the first triple-double of her career, leading the Bryant University volleyball team to a 3-0 sweep of the University of Hartford Friday night in game two of the Hampton Inn-vitational.

Sperry finished the match with 10 kills, 16 assists and 11 digs while tacking on three blocks against the Hawks (0-2) and ended the first day of 2016 action with 17 kills and five stuffs after a 3-0 Bryant (1-1) loss to St. John's (2-0) to open Friday play.

Classmate Julia Flynn (Pembroke, Mass.) added her own double-double against Hartford with 10 kills and 11 digs (3 blocks), while senior setter Vika Katzen (Kfar Saba, Israel) posted 23 assists with 11 digs. Sophomore libero Kristin Kingi (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) led the match defensively with 19 digs. The Bulldogs totaled 12.5 team blocks on the nightcap, with sophomore Grace Richmeyer (DeSoto, Mo.) partaking in eight of them (1 solo, 7 assists) in her first-career start (5 kills). Junior Ally Lunsford (Minneola, Fla.) also got in on the action with eight kills and four stuffs.

After owning a lead for much of the first set, the Bulldogs surrendered seven-straight points to the Hawks to go down by two, 19-17. A Richmeyer kill got the home side back on track and marked the first of three points that put Bryant back on top. The teams would battle for points from there, but Lunsford would get a big kill and team up with Katzen for a key block to set up a set point that the Bulldogs would win for a 25-22 victory.

Three aces from Sperry headlined a 29-27 Bulldog victory in the second set, as the versatile sophomore also chipped in four kills and three blocks on the back-and-forth affair. Bryant went up by as many as six, 19-13, but the Hawks clawed their way back to tie it at 21-21 and eventually take a 24-22 lead. Bryant would tie it at 25-25 and fend off two Hartford set points before taking the frame on Flynn's seven kill of the stanza.

The Bulldogs took a 12-6 advantage in the third after rookie Brianna Bruny (Biscayne Park, Fla.) and Richmeyer paired up for the stuff, and the hosts never looked back, taking a 3-0 match victory with the 25-20 win in the final set.

Paulina Modestow paced Hartford offensively with 10 kills, while Katy Henchy added eight. Jenna Bridges posted six kills and six blocks, while Paola Llerandi dug up 15 balls. The Hawks hit at a .133 clip as a team to Bryant's .223 but served up nine aces, including four from Megan Scherer.

In the Bulldogs' tournament opener against the Red Storm, Sperry and junior Kiley Robbins (Garland, Texas) led the way with seven kills apiece, while the former's .333 attack percentage marked a team best. Robbins was one of four Bulldogs to record a pair of blocks, joined by rookie Ava Patterson, Lunsford (6 kills) and senior Sara DePouw (6 kills). Patterson added five kills in her collegiate debut while earning a nod in the starting lineup. Katzen dished out 27 assists to captain the offense.

A hard-fought first set saw the Bulldogs keep the score tied till 15-15 before the Red Storm took eight of nine points – including five served up by Erica Di Maulo – to take a 23-17 edge. The visitors would eventually win the frame, 25-18. In the second, St. John's once again built a lead on the service of their setter to a 17-11 advantage, never allowing the Bulldogs to make up ground in the 25-19 final. The third stanza saw five ties as Bryant hit a match-best .308 as a team, but the hosts were never able to take over a lead in the 25-18 margin for a 3-0 final.

St. John's boasted a pair of double-digit scorers in Julia Cast (11 kills) and Margherita Bianchin (10), while Di Maulo added four kills in four attempts to her match-high 31 dimes and nine digs. She was also a part of four of the team's 11 blocks, a category led by Danisha Moss (5 blocks, 7 kills) and Mona Karkkainen (4 blocks, 2 solo).

As a team, the Red Storm hit .368, including a .579 attack percentage in a third set that featured just a pair of errors for the visitors. St. John's also served up five aces to Bryant's three (Katzen, Lunsford, Margot Ruffieux).

The Bulldogs return to Hampton Inn-vitational action Saturday, when they play host to Rider (12 p.m.) and Rutgers (5 p.m.) to wrap up tournament play.