Bulldogs lead early, fall to SHU in NEC home opener

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Freshman Sara DePouw (Oconto, Wis.) led the contest with 12 kills and six blocks, but the Bryant University volleyball team couldn't hand Sacred Heart its first league loss Saturday afternoon, falling in four sets in the Bulldogs' Northeast Conference home opener at the Chace Athletic Center.

DePouw's six stuffs paced 10 team blocks for the Bulldogs (4-16, 1-2 NEC) while senior Alexandria Clyburn (Cartersville, Ga.) added 11 kills and a match-best .562 hitting percentage, also having a strong day at the net with four blocks of her own. Sophomore setter Jana Kmec (Stratford, Conn.) was also a part of four Bryant blocks and added 29 assists, while rookie Mallory Wilczynski (Cary, Ill.) (3 blocks), junior Elena Lohr (Loveland, Ohio) (2 blocks, 5 kills) and sophomore Claire Van Dyk (New Richmond, Wis.) (1b, 7k) also got in on the action.

Dianis Mercado and Sarah Krufka led the Pioneers (9-6, 3-0) to their fourth-straight victory, recording 12 and 11 kills apiece, while Allison Riggs matched the latter with five blocks as the pair accounted for the majority of Sacred Heart's seven team stops.

Kiki Robinson finished the day with a match-best 32 assists with nine digs, while Ana Gonzalez led the outing defensively with 12 digs. Krufka and Alissa Young each served up three aces (10 for the team), and Marie Zimmerman contributed 10 digs and nine kills with a pair of perfect serves.

The Bulldogs came on strong out of the gates, leading set one from start to finish. Bryant started the frame with a 4-0 lead, all served up by Lohr, before the Pioneers got on the board, and the Bulldogs would maintain a multipoint lead all the way through for an early 1-0 advantage (25-18) in the match. Wilczynski paced the home side with five kills and a .571 attack percentage, as the Bulldogs posted three team blocks.

The second frame would see a back-and-forth battle between the squads, highlighted by seven ties and four lead changes. Clyburn would lead the set with five kills on eight attacks, but five Bryant service errors gave Sacred Heart the lift it needed as the Pioneers knotted the match at 1-1 with a 25-18 set win.

The Bulldogs fell behind early in the third and trailed, 20-9, after six-straight points served up by Mercado. The hosts carried a 22-12 deficit late in the set, but a kill from Clyburn kicked off a major turn in momentum for the Black and Gold, who would score five-consecutive points to close the gap to 23-17. Mercado would get the Pioneers to set point, but a Lohr kill coupled with three Bulldog points served up by rookie Carissa Gould (Woonsocket, R.I.) brought the home team within striking distance, 24-21, and forced a Sacred Heart timeout. But the break would be all the Pioneers needed to regroup, taking the set and the 2-1 match lead on the next play, 25-21, thanks to a Krufka kill.

The match stayed tight throughout the fourth, with neither side leading by more than four until late in the frame, when Kiki Robinson gave the visitors a 23-18 edge. Bryant would get three of the next four points – including a big block from Clyburn and Kmec and a kill from the former that brought the score to 24-21 – but a service error would end it for the Black and Gold in the 3-1 loss.

The Bulldogs hit at a .150 clip as a team, besting Sacred Heart's .106 mark, and outdug their opponents, 46-44, led by nine digs from Van Dyk. The teams combined for 53 hitting errors (31 for SHU, 22 for Bryant) and 27 service miscues (12, 15) on the afternoon.

Bryant will be back in action Sunday, hosting Fairleigh Dickinson University at the Chace Athletic Center at 1:00 p.m.