Nesterov, Flynn post career days, Bulldogs extend winning streak to four with 3-1 victory over Red Flash

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Sophomore setter Vika Nesterov (Kfar Saba, Israel) set a career-high with 62 assists and posted her second-consecutive double-double, while four Bulldogs finished with double-digit kills in the Bryant University volleyball team's 3-1 win over Saint Francis U. Sunday afternoon.

With the win, the Bulldogs (15-10, 6-1 Northeast Conference) move to 12-0 on their home court and up their current win streak to four-straight matches. Nesterov added 14 digs to her career day, while rookies Kristin Kingi (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) and Julia Flynn (Pembroke, Mass.) picked up their own double-doubles with 15 kills and 13 digs and a career-high 19 kills and 14 digs, respectively.

Fellow frosh Sophie Hoekstra (Millersville, Md.) added 17 more kills on the afternoon, while senior Taylor Onoyan (Crystal Lake, Ill.) contributed 10. Senior libero Debora Magalhaes (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) paced the match on defense with 21 digs.

The victory also marked the 450th career win for head coach Theresa Garlacy.

The Red Flash (4-18, 2-5) were paced by 11 kills from Breanna Opera, while Amelia Metzler dished out 37 of the team's 40 assists. Opera served up four aces on the match and added five digs and three blocks. Hannah Kutny added six kills with 11 digs, while Jenna Veres posted 16 digs.

Saint Francis U. got a trio of aces from Opera in the opening set alone, charging out to a 13-8 advantage and holding onto that lead for a 25-21 victory in the starting frame. But behind nine kills from Flynn and Hoekstra, the Bulldogs surged back in the second, hitting .355 as a team with a trio of blocks to knot the match at 1-1 with a 25-17 victory.

Bryant dominated the third frame, nearly holding the visitors to single digits before taking a 25-10 victory for the first home edge of the match. The Bulldogs scored eight-straight points mid-set with Nesterov on the serve, driving the score to 21-7 before letting up another point to the Red Flash. Hoekstra would finish off the win with a kill.

The fourth stayed tight for much of the frame, with the Bulldogs opening a 19-13 advantage halfway through. The Red Flash would quickly close the gap to 21-18 and force a Bryant timeout, but out of the break, the Black and Gold would score four of the final five points to take the 3-1 match victory with a 25-19 margin in the stanza.

Bryant finished the match hitting .338 as a unit, including a .529 mark in the third set. The Red Flash hit .163 as a team on the afternoon. Bryant saw its only two aces come from rookie Kirstyn Sperry (Phoenix, Ariz.), who added 10 digs and a kill to her day. Sophomore Ally Lunsford (Minneola, Fla.) also came up huge for the hosts at the net, posting six kills with six blocks, including a pair of solo stuffs.

The Bulldogs return to action Saturday, Oct. 24 when they travel to Saint Francis Brooklyn for a 1:00 p.m. matchup.