NEW ROCHELLE, NY -- No. 4 seed Pratt Institute dropped its Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoff semifinal match to top-seeded St. Joseph's (BK) College, 3-0, Sunday afternoon on the campus of the College of New Rochelle.
Charlotte Burch led Pratt with a .375 attack percentage, totaling seven kills with only one error on 18 attempts, and Hannah Calderwood led the Cannoneers with eight kills on 24 swings. Setter Alli Houghton totaled a double-double of 25 sets and 10 digs as Pratt closes its season at 8-11.
St. Joe's started the afternoon with five straight points before a Diana Lezama ace pulled Pratt to within 6-3. Trailing 17-9, a Lezama kill and three straight service aces from Alli Houghton sparked a 5-0 run to bring the Cannoneers to within 17-14 before the Bears scored five of six points to go up 23-16 in the team's 25-21 win.
A Calderwood kill put Pratt up 7-2 to open the second set, which Pratt led until St. Joe's closed the game on a 10-2 run that sealed the win. Pratt took its largest lead of the day after a Burch kill made the score 17-9, and another Burch kill put the Cannoneers in position to close out the set leading 23-17. Three Megan Moran kills then sparked the Bears 10-2 run as St. Joe's stormed back for a 27-25 victory.
Kills by Nicole Garcia and Calderwood sparked a 4-0 run that gave Pratt the lead at 9-4 and, after surviving a 6-0 Bears run, the Cannoneers never trailed until the waning points of the set. Another 6-0 run, this with Anna Carbone at serve, proved more costly, turning St. Joe's 20-17 deficit into a three-point lead in helping close out the match with a 25-22 win.
Pratt finishes the 2013 season at 8-11, while St. Joseph's again advanced to the HVIAC Championship game.
