GREENVILLE, N.C. – Old Dominion volleyball opened the No Quarter Invitational with a 3-0 setback against tournament host East Carolina on Thursday night at Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
The Monarchs drop to 4-5 on the season, while the Pirates improve to 6-4. Thursday marked the second meeting between the two programs, a series that ECU now leads, 2-0.
ECU 3, ODU 0
The Pirates put together 4-0 run in the opening set, highlighted by back-to-back service aces by Angeles Alderete, but four straight errors allowed the Monarchs to pull ahead, 6-5. Leilani Lawrence served an ace to put ODU in front 9-7, but the tournament hosts answered right back with a 3-0 push. Kills from Lawrence and Wiktoria Zagumny and an ace by Emma Schelah allowed Old Dominion to seize the momentum, 16-13, but East Carolina refused to go away. The Silver and Blue looked to put their opponents away as they served set point at 24-22, but the Pirates earned the next points to knot the set at 24-24. Following an ODU timeout, an attack error had the Monarchs serving for set point again at 25-24, but the Pirates again had a response. ECU came up with a late 3-0 run for a 27-25 total.
ODU fell behind 8-4 to begin the second set, then was forced to burn a timeout after ECU extended its lead, 10-5. The home team strung together another couple of 3-0 spurts to widen the gap, 21-10, and then took a 2-0 overall lead with a 25-12 decision.
The Monarchs regrouped in the third set and went up 5-3 thanks to a successful swing by Schelah and a pair of attack errors by the Pirates. Elisa Maggi and Zagumny terminated a couple of balls to keep ODU in front, 7-5, but ECU evened the score at 7-7. Both sides traded blows from there until the Purple and Gold took off with seven unanswered points, giving them a 22-16 advantage. The Monarchs couldn’t keep the match going as they came up short, 25-19.
Maggi hit .217 in the match and led ODU with 10 kills, adding five digs and one assist to her totals. Schelah swung for a .235 clip and followed Maggi with six kills, while Lawrence ended up with five kills. Zagumny tallied 23 assists and served one ace with Schelah responsible for the team’s other ace. Adrienne Peji set a new season high with 13 digs, libero Ashlyn Gent had nine, and Schelah and Zagumny made three blocks each.
The Silver and Blue combined to hit .289 in the opening set, but recorded a -.030 percentage in the second set and swung for a .121 mark in the third. By comparison, the Pirates hit .284 for the match, including a .448 clip in the second set. The match had a total of 28 ties, with 15 in the first set and another 13 in the third, and just seven lead changes.
Up Next
The second day of the No Quarter Invitational will see ODU and Campell taking the court at 2 p.m. on Friday. It will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs.