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Brown University
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Fairfield
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Volleyball Falls to Fairfield, Holy Cross on Opening Day at Crusader Classic
9/2/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
WORCESTER, Mass. – Freshman Makena Ehlert posted her first collegiate double-double on 20 kills and 15 digs vs. Holy Cross, but Brown University volleyball fell to Fairfield, 3-0, and to the Crusaders, 3-2, on opening day at the Crusader Classic on Friday at the Holy Cross Field House.
The Bears (0-2) pushed the host Crusaders (2-2) in a five-set, 3-2 (16-25, 25-23, 21-25, 25-21, 15-10), setback after falling to the Stags (2-3) in straight sets, 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-19) in their season opener.
Ehlert (Orange County, Calif.) paced the Bears against Holy Cross while notching a hitting percentage of .562. Fellow rookie Jacqueline Jacobs (Atlanta, Ga.) added 10 kills on .500 hitting with six blocks. Senior Sarah Lucenti (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) dished out 31 assists, and junior Chaney Hart (Paradise Valley, Ariz.) tallied a career-high 14 digs.
Next, Brown hosts Ocean State foe Bryant University tomorrow at 2 p.m. before hosting crosstown rival Providence College on Wednesday, Sept. 7 at 7 p.m.
Match 1: Fairfield 3, Brown 0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-19)
Brown University volleyball fell to Fairfield University, 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-19), in its season opener at the Crusader Classic on Friday afternoon.
Junior Melissa Cairo (Hillsborough, Calif.) recorded 11 digs while Lucenti tallied 13 assists, four digs, and two aces. Sophomore Elisa Merten (Woodside, Calif.) added seven digs and five assists.
Senior Payton Smith (Atherton, Calif.), sophomore Sabrina Stillwell (Laguna Beach, Calif.), and Jacobs each recorded five kills with Jacobs notching a .400 hitting percentage.
The Bears and Stags battled over the course of the first set with Fairfield taking a 25-23 win. Brown opened with leads of 8-1 and 11-4 before the Stags used a 10-2 run to pull ahead 14-13. The Bears won three of four points to tie the set at 23-23 before Fairfield pulled out the set win. Cairo and Merten each had three digs in the frame.
In set two, Fairfield held a 10-7 edge prior to pushing its advantage to 23-12 behind a 13-5 spurt. The Stags finished the set with a 25-18 win. In the stanza, Lucenti and Cairo posted five assists and three digs respectively.
In the final stanza, Fairfield claimed a 15-11 lead midway through the set before Brown cut its deficit to 17-15. The Stags went ahead 23-16 with a 6-1 streak and captured the set with a 25-19 victory. Lucenti and Cairo tallied six assists and five digs respectively while Jacobs landed three kills in the set.
For Fairfield, Megan Theiller and Skyler Day posted 12 kills each. Manuela Nicolini totaled 20 assists, and Mallory Bechtold registered 14 digs.
Match 2: Holy Cross 3, Brown 2 (16-25, 25-23, 21-25, 25-21, 15-10)
Ehlert and Jacobs both hit over .500 in the match, but Brown fell to host Holy Cross, 3-2 (16-25, 25-23, 21-25, 25-21, 15-10), in its second game and nightcap at the Crusader Classic on Friday night.
Ehlert finished with 20 kills on .500 hitting and 15 digs with Jacobs providing 10 kills on .500 hitting and six blocks. Stillwell tallied nine kills and four blocks, Smith posted eight kills and five blocks, and junior Shirin Tooloee (San Jose, Calif.) landed seven kills.
Lucenti dished out 31 assists – her seventh career match with 30 or more digs – and Merten charted a career-high 19 assists. Hart contributed a career-best 14 digs.
The Bears led from start to finish in set one, capturing a 25-16 win in the opening stanza. Brown pushed its lead to as large as nine points at 17-8 after an 11-4 run. Holy Cross trimmed its deficit to 20-16 before the Bears won the last five points in the set. Ehlert paced the visitors with six kills and four digs in the set while Lucenti passed out nine assists.
Brown rallied to take a lead late in set two, but Holy Cross took the frame, 25-23. The Crusaders built a 14-7 advantage behind a 9-2 spurt before the Bears answered with a 12-5 run to tie the set at 19-19. The visitors took their first lead at 21-20, but the hosts pulled out the win, taking the last three points. Ehlert posted five kills and seven digs in the period with Smith adding four kills.
In set three, Brown built a lead as large as 14-8 in the first half of the period prior to Holy Cross using a 10-4 streak to knot the set at 18-18. With the score still tied, 20-20, the Bears grabbed five of the last six points to take a 25-21 triumph in the set. Ehlert chalked up three kills and two digs in the set.
Neither side held a lead larger than two points in set four until Holy Cross pushed itself to a 20-17 edge. The teams witnessed 14 ties in the frame with the 14th time coming at 17-17. Jacobs and Ehlert tallied five and four kills respectively in the stanza while Lucenti and Merten combined for 14 assists.
Brown jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the decisive stanza, but Holy Cross responded with a 10-1 run to gain an 11-6 edge on its way to a 15-10 win in set five. Ehlert and Hart had two kills and four digs respectively in the final frame.
For Holy Cross, Mandy Sifferlen terminated on 20 kills. Luisa Soares notched a double-double on 15 kills and 10 digs while Lizzie Webb registered a match-high 42 assists to go with 11 digs for the doubele-double. M.C. Magner had a match-high 16 digs.
Video of all Brown volleyball home contests and all Ivy League matches, home and away, will be broadcast live on ILDN.TV/BROWN.
