NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion volleyball came up short on Saturday as the Monarchs dropped their final match of the Quest for the Crown, 3-0 to Towson.
“We made it really difficult on ourselves. Towson’s a good team, don’t get me wrong, but we didn’t step up to the mark and challenge the way we could have,” said ODU Head Coach Fred Chao.
Towson 3, ODU 0
The Monarchs (0-3) grabbed an early 6-3 lead in the first set thanks to a couple of Towson attack errors and kills from LeeAnne Lowery, Emma Schelah, Elisa Maggi and Wiktoria Zagumny. However, the Tigers (1-2) put together a 7-0 run to pull ahead, 15-10. Rita Benidio assisted Zagumny to trim the visitor’s lead to 18-14, but Towson held on for a 25-16 finish to the opening set.
ODU fell behind 12-9 in the second set, but back-to-back service aces by Benidio allowed the Monarchs to knot the score at 14-14. Old Dominion kept it close down the stretch, but an ODU attack error and a kill by Towson’s Taylor Pagan gave the Tigers another set at 25-22.
Towson rattled off four-straight points to start the final set, though aces from Maggi and Kate Kilpatrick trimmed the Tiger’s lead to 5-4. Lowery and Katie Rakoski converted a couple of attacks to tie the set at 7-7, but the guests responded with five unanswered points. ODU couldn’t recover after that, and Towson brought the match to a close with a 25-13 final.
Lowery swung for a .562 clip and paced the attack with 10 kills, added two digs and one block to her totals. Maggi followed with six kills, 11 digs and one ace, Zagumny racked up 22 assists with five kills and three digs, and Benidio served two aces with four kills and six digs. Kilpatrick led the back row with 15 digs.
Asked about how his team played during the opening weekend of the season, Chao commented, “At times really well, but a lot of times we’re not there when things aren’t gelling. They’re not clicking yet. We’ve been moving some pieces around, but there’s no excuse for some of the mistakes we’ve been making.”
“We’ve got to keep training according to our plan of where we want to be. We’ve got to set this weekend aside, learn what we can from it, but not chase this past weekend’s problems. We’ve got to stay to our program so that by the end of September, we’re ready for our conference matches.”
The match featured only seven ties and just four lead changes. It marked the first ever meeting between the two programs.
Quest for the Crown
Players of the Match
Match 1 – Laila Ibrahim, West Virginia
Match 2 – Allie Elliott, Fairfield
Match 3 – Mamie Kruballey, Fairfield
Match 4 – Trinity Sheridan, West Virginia
Match 5 – Maddy McGrath, West Virginia
Match 6 – Ella Sanders, Towson
Up Next
The Monarchs will head up to Baltimore, Maryland next weekend to play in the UMBC Tournament. ODU will face William & Mary at 10 a.m. and Maryland at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 5, then the host Retrievers at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 6.