WALTHAM, Mass. – The Holy Family University volleyball team opened its 2022 campaign against two 2021 NCAA Tournament foes on Friday.
The Tigers battled Northeast 10 favorite American International, 22-25, 15-25, 22-25, before falling to Bentley, 12-25, 17-25, 11-25.
American International (AIC)
Individual Highlights
- Making her collegiate debut, Isabella Mosquera's (West Chicago, Ill./Saint Charles East) five blocks were more than double any other player, and she was second on HFU with six kills
- Faith Zehnder (Lakewood, Colo./Lakewood) had nearly double the amount of digs, 21 as any other student-athlete
- Skylar Osenkarski (Harding, Pa./Holy Redeemer) swung a match-best .667 with eight kills against zero errors
- Morgan Steck (Lakewood, Colo./Lakewood) led Holy Family with a career-best 25 assists
- Freshman Shelby Kinzer (Sioux Falls, S.D./Washington) recorded eight digs and five kills in her collegiate debut
- Brianna Moss (Gainesville, Va./Battlefield) set new career-highs with four digs and two aces
- Kyla Sayson (Sewell, N.J./Gloucester Institute of Technology) notably also made her collegiate debut
Inside the Box (Team)
- Holy Family out-hit AIC .294-.277 in the third set
- The two teams were dead even in both digs, 51-51, and blocks, 5-5
How it Happened
First Set
- Holy Family jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to back-to-back kills by Mosquera and Osenkarsi and an AIC error, and the Tigers led by as many as five, 7-2, after a run of four straight points that included kills from Krause and Kinzer and a Moss service ace
- A 9-3 run gave American International its first lead, 11-10, but HFU responded with four unanswered to re-establish a 14-11 advantage on a Mosquera block
- The Yellow Jackets used four straight points of their own to go back up 16-15, but another Moss ace four points later gave the Tigers what turned out to be their final lead at 18-17
- American International answered with three straight points and despite HFU tying the score at both 20 and 21, on a Kinzer ace and Yanief kill, the Yellow Jackets used another 3-0 spurt to ultimately pull away
Second Set
- Despite four early ties, Holy Family could never take a lead in the second set as AIC used four consecutive points to go ahead 11-6
- The Tigers got as close as 12-10, but the Yellow Jackets then used six unanswered to take control
Third Set
- Trailing by as many as 10 twice, including at 13-23, Holy Family stormed back to within one, 22-23, by scoring nine straight points on Steck's serve
- Mosquera played a part in the first three points with a kill and two blocks, and Steck put an exclamation point on the surge with an ace
- American International would utilize a timeout to halt momentum though, and the Yellow Jackets composed themselves to score the final two points
Bentley
Individual Highlights
- Sayson led Holy Family with 11 assists in her first career start, while matching Zehnder with a team-high nine digs to fall one shy of a double-double
- Fellow freshman Kinzer paced the Tigers with four kills and a match-high three aces
How it Happened
First Set
- Bentley scored the first five points en route to leading throughout
Second Set
- A kill by Mosquera gave Holy Family an early 2-1 advantage, but the Falcons quickly came back with eight of the next nine points to regain control
Third Set
- A block by Mosquera tied the score at 1-1 before Bentley used five unanswered to eventually complete the sweep
Up Next
Holy Family turns right around to play two more matches at Bentley tomorrow, with the Tigers set to face Purdue Northwest at 9:00 a.m. and Valdosta State at 3:30 p.m.
