NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion volleyball concluded its season with a 3-0 loss at Arkansas State on Saturday afternoon at First National Bank Arena.
The Monarchs finish the season 5-22 overall and 2-14 in Sun Belt action.
“Hats off to Arkansas State,” ODU head coach Fred Chao said afterwards. “They are playing like a top seed for the Sun Belt Championship. We were challenged in every way this weekend and could not find solutions for many of them.”
Arkansas State 3, ODU 0
A couple of A-State attack errors and a kill by Tiana Stubbs helped ODU take a 3-2 lead in the opening set, but the Red Wolves (19-8, 12-4) countered with a 4-0 run. Following a service error by the hosts, Rita Benidio served an ace and Elisa Maggi scored a kill to even the set at 7-7. However, a couple of Mia Maloney service aces highlighted a 5-0 ASU run as the Monarchs trailed 15-9 at the media timeout. The home team then capped off the set with an 8-1 swing for a 25-14 tally.
A block by Emma Schelah and Katie Rakoski put ODU ahead, 3-2 at the start of the second set. A few rallies later with the Monarchs leading 5-4, the Red Wolves opened up a 7-0 run to jump ahead, 11-5. The hosts extended their lead to 23-9 with a 9-1 swing before committing a couple of attack errors. Kate Kilpatrick then served an ace and Wiktoria Zagumny assisted Schelah, but A-State took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-13 score.
ODU kept things close early in the third set. A solo block by Schelah evened the score at 2-2, and she then teamed up with Maggi for another block to knot the set at 5-5. The Monarchs trailed by one point, 13-12 when a Daedrianna Cail kill ignited a 6-0 run for the Red Wolves. A Zagumny solo block and an ace from Schelah cut the deficit to 20-15, but that was as close as Old Dominion would get. A-State earned match point at 25-17 as Cail put away a ball from Erin Madigan.
Rakoski, Schelah, and Stubbs each scored five kills to lead the attack. Zagumny contributed 16 assists with four digs and three blocks while Schelah, Benidio, and Kilpatrick all served one ace. Kilpatrick finished with a team-high seven digs, Maggi had five, and Schelah led ODU at the net with four blocks.
There were 10 ties, including four in the first set and four in the second, and five lead changes.
“This has been the most challenging season of my career, as our record indicates,” continued Chao. “The injuries combined with inexperience add up. But it has also been one of the most rewarding. In spite of the obstacles, the team continued to fight every week to improve. They learned to become a team and work through adversity together.”
“I am grateful for all the efforts of our players, my staff, and for the unwavering support of Monarch Nation. We have learned a lot from this season, and our future is very bright.”