NORFOLK, Va. – Elisa Maggi set a new career high with 26 kills and Wiktoria Zagumny eclipsed 2,000 career assists, but it wasn’t enough for Old Dominion volleyball as the Monarchs opened the VCU Invitational with a 3-1 loss to the Rams on Friday night at the ODU Volleyball Center.
ODU drops to 2-7 on the season while VCU moves to 2-5. The all-time series is now tied at 2-2.
VCU 3, ODU 1
A pair of ODU attack errors allowed the Rams to pull ahead 11-8 in the opening set, but the Monarchs would catch up at 14-14 on a Madelyn Eslinger service ace. VCU’s Julia Rienks put away a ball from Haruka Sugimoto and Letizia Galli and Kalina Pylinska made a block to put the guests back in front 21-18, but a late VCU attack error allowed ODU to tie the score yet again at 23-23. A pair of kills by Pylinska and teammate Elif Ozsoy clinched the first set for the Rams though, 25-23.
Zagumny served an ace and Maggi and Katie Rakosi both scored a kill to help the home team jump out to an early 5-1 lead in the second set. However, the Rams rattled off a 4-0 run in response. VCU then created some separation with a 5-1 swing for a 17-12 lead as ODU burned a timeout. Kyra Hampton and Tiana Stubbs recorded a block and Rita Benidio followed with a kill to cut the deficit to 21-18, but the Rams held on and took another set, 25-21.
Three more kills by Maggi along with three kills and an ace from Zagumny helped build a 7-2 ODU lead at the start of the third set. The Monarchs kept that lead until Ozsoy assisted Galli to knot the score at 16-16. Down the stretch, Zagumny converted an attack and then made a block with Emma Schelah to regain control at 23-21 and send VCU back to its bench. After an attack error by Rienks, Maggi scored a kill for set point at 25-22.
VCU led the fourth set 8-5 in the early going, but back-to-back kills by Maggi tied the set at 10-10. Maggi continued to keep ODU close as the Monarchs trailed 21-20 late, but the Rams earned four straight points to close out the set and the match.
Maggi swung for a .276 hitting percentage and paced the ODU attack with 26 kills. The junior from Pavia, Italy also had five digs with one assist to finish with a new career best of 26 points. Benidio was next with seven kills and Rakoski scored six. Zagumny, who entered the match needing 17 assists to reach her career milestone, finished the night with 36 and added 12 digs for her third double-double of the season.
Kate Kilpatrick and Adrienne Peji also reached double-digit digs with 15 and 10, respectively. Schelah led the defensive effort at the net with four blocks, three of them solo, while Rakoski, Zagumny, and LeeAnne Lowery made two blocks each.
ODU combined to hit .196 as a team and edged VCU in total digs, 53-45. There were 33 ties in the match, including 12 in the first set and nine in the fourth, and just seven lead changes.
Up Next
ODU will be back on its home court tomorrow afternoon when the Monarchs host Wake Forest at 3 p.m. It will be the first ever meeting between the Monarchs and Demon Deacons.