Women's Volleyball Overcomes Slow Start Against Pratt To Remain Undefeated in HVIAC

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Driven by a match-high 14 kills from senior Megan Moran (Syosset, N.Y./St. Dominic's) and the third double-double of the season from sophomore Lauren GaNun (Breezy Point, N.Y./Fontbonne Hall), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's volleyball defeated Clinton Hill rivals Pratt Institute, 3-1 (17-25, 25-16, 25-11, 25-10) in a Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup on Thursday night at the Pratt ARC.

St. Joseph's (6-4, 2-0 HVIAC) remains undefeated in conference play and have won a season-high three matches in a row while Pratt (4-7, 1-3 HVIAC) has now lost their last three HVIAC matches and two overall.

Moran provided the bite to the Lady Bears offense with her .324 hitting percentage and four digs while GaNun had the best all-around game for St. Joseph's putting down 11 kills, bringing up 11 digs and recording a career-high seven blocks. The Lady Bears were helped on the defensive end with 18 digs from junior Jennifer Moncino (Ridgewood, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) and sophomore Anna Carbone (Ozone Park, N.Y./Mary Louis) who notched 12 digs. Senior Sabrina Cornia (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller) helped coordinate the offense falling one dig shy of her fifth double-double.

The Cannoneers were paced by Hannah Calderwood who finished the night with 11 kills along with eight digs in a losing effort.

St. Joseph's got off to a slow start in the opening set as Pratt built an early 9-8 lead. The Cannoneers would then score four unanswered to build a 13-8 lead and they did not look back as they took the set without any serious threat from the Lady Bears building their largest lead of the match at 21-11.

After the way Pratt dominated St. Joseph's in the first set it looked like the Cannoneers were going to be a handful for the Lady Bears. However, St. Joseph's came out in the second stanza and took an early 3-1 lead. With the score tied at 9-9 the Lady Bears would go on a 6-0 run that gave them a 15-9 lead and they kept the pressure on Pratt maintaining a sizeable lead for the remainder of the period to tie up the match at 1-1.

The third set went in St. Joseph's favor right from the start as they built a 7-1 lead and would prove too much for the Cannoneers as they finished the period on a 16-6 run giving them a 2-1 advantage in the match heading to the fourth.

The final act saw the Lady Bears lead from start-to-finish, helped by nine kills from the duo of Moran and GaNun, beginning the set with six unanswered points and dominated Pratt for the remainder of the match ending on a 13-6 run that ended with St. Joseph's largest lead of the night at 15.

The Lady Bears travel to Washington, D.C. on Sunday, October 6th as they take part in a tri-match at Washington Adventist. St. Joseph's will play Bryn Athyn first at 12 p.m. before taking on the hosts at 2 p.m.