MANHATTAN -- The Cannoneers erased a 2-0 deficit in forcing a deciding set, which Pratt dropped 15-10 in its 3-2 loss at John Jay College Thursday night in non-conference women's volleyball play at the Doghouse.
Pratt's Diana Lezama and Nicole Garcia tied for team-high honors with 10 kills each, the latter on 32 attempts with only three errors for a team-best .219 hitting percentage. Lezama, meanwhile, led five Cannoneers in double figures with a match-high 23 digs. Freshman Hannah Calderwood continued her fine play, totaling eight kills, 13 digs and pacing all players with four solo blocks.
Facing a 2-0 match deficit in the third set, Pratt jumped out to a 13-6 lead on a Calderwood block. A Charlotte Burch solo ace gave the visitors a 22-14 lead, and Pratt cruised to a 25-17 win.
Pratt scored the first four points in Game 4, and three straight Bloodhounds attack errors found the Cannoneers ahead 9-2. A 5-0 John Jay run pulled the Hounds to within 11-9, and later clinging to a 22-19 lead, Pratt scored the final three points compliments of a John Jay service error and back-to-back attack errors to take a 25-19 win, forcing a Game 5.
Consecutive kills from Garcia on passes from Alli Houghton tied the deciding set at 2-2, and another Burch ace handed Pratt its first lead at 4-3. With Pratt leading 6-5, John Jay scored three straight points led by kills from Martina Hot and Sandy Requino and would never trail again. Attack errors from Lezama and Burch closed out the Bloodhounds 5-0 run to put the hosts on top 14-8. John Jay's Latanya Buckham then attoned for two straight errors that pulled Pratt to within 14-10 with a kill that closed out her team's 15-10 win.
For John Jay, Hot was just that, leading all player with 23 kills to go along with 17 digs. Katherine Bonilla totaled match-highs of 44 kills and five aces as the Bloodhounds improved to 4-16.
Houghton tossed 33 assists to go along with four aces and 20 digs.
At 7-9, Pratt returns to play on Saturday at home against the College of Staten Island, when the Cannoneers will honor Melissa Au, Garcia and Renia Kagkou on senior day at the ARC.
