The Quinnipiac women’s volleyball team lost its third straight game in three straight sets to Sacred Heart on Friday at Burt Kahn Court.

The first set belonged to Sacred Heart.  The Pioneers got off to an early 4-1 start in the first set thanks to a few kills from freshman Alissa Young. Kills by Sacred Heart’s sophomore Dianis Mercado and junior Elise Sage along with a few aces made it 9-3 Pioneers. Two of the first three Bobcat points came from Sacred Heart faults.

The Pioneers  (20-7, 10-2 NEC) then went on to score six straight points, making it 15-3, before Bobcats head coach Robin Sparks called her second and final timeout of the first set.  Sacred Heart scored two more consecutive points until Bobcats senior Kayla Lawler softly hit the ball over the net, giving the Bobcats  (4-22, 3-10 NEC) their fourth point and ending the 8-0 Pioneers run.  Sacred Heart took a 24-13 lead before the Bobcats scored three straight points.

However, a kill by Elise Sage won Sacred Heart the set, 25-16.

“We weren’t closing our blocks,” Bobcats head coach Robin Sparks said.  “So I think that makes it difficult. You can’t set up your defense when there’s a hole in your block.”

Sacred Heart continued their dominant play in the second set starting off with an early 7-2 lead.  The Bobcats had a total of three missed attacks to start off the set.

The Bobcats battled back and after Sparks’ second timeout, the Pioneers had a 20-11 lead.  But Sacred Heart finished the set with a 5-3 run to take the win, 25-14.

“We made a little bit of adjustments because of a little bit of confusion on what we were doing defensively,” Sparks said.

The Pioneers began the third set with a 5-1 lead, including three straight blocks. Sparks called a timeout and both teams began to play neck and neck afterwards, exchanging a point every other serve.

After a missed attack by Bobcats freshman Tierra Allen, the Pioneers took a 14-7. After splitting the next ten points, a kill from Pioneers junior Johanna Ovsenek gave Sacred Heart a 20-12 lead.

Sacred Heart kills from Dianis Mercado, Johanna Ovsenek, and a few errors helped Sacred Heart finish off the Bobcats with a 25-13 victory, and an overall win of three sets to zero.
“That’s a really good team and we knew that going into it,” Sparks said. “I think we were on our heels just from the start.”

Quinnipiac returns to Burt Kahn Court Sunday, Nov. 6 against Fairleigh Dickinson at 2 p.m.