FREDERICKSBURG, Va. – The No. 6-seeded Pratt Institute women's volleyball team used a balanced attack with three Cannoneers putting away double-digit kills to defeat No. 5-seeded Mount Mary University to earn fifth-place honors at the 2022 Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference Championship on Saturday morning at the University of Mary Washington.
The Cannoneers end their 2022 campaign over .500 at 12-11 overall and secure their first C2C Championship victory. Mount Mary ends their season at 8-23.
Senior Rose Moon concluded her career with an 11-kill, 12-dig double-double. Emily Sontag fell one dig shy of a double-double with 11 kills and nine digs. Sophomore Olivia Julich rounded out three with double-figure kills with 10 kills, five digs and four blocks (three solo).
Zeynep Akgol chipped in eight kills on .462 hitting with three blocks and senior Deanna Colondona added seven kills with 10 digs. Emma Leavey led the back line with 13 digs and Gabby Genduso directed the offense with 41 assists.
Brianna Ecker paced Mount Mary with a match-highs of 15 kills and 18 digs.
The opening set saw Pratt fall behind by as many as six at the 16-10 mark before using an 8-2 run to pull within run at 19-18 to force a Mount Mary timeout. The Cannoneers faced two set points at 24-22 that were erased by a Julich kill and a Akgol block. A Blue Angel miscue gave Pratt their first lead of the set since the opening point, and they completed the comeback on a Moon kill.
The second stanza was another closely contested set with neither team able to separate by more than three points and five ties after the 18-all mark. A Colondona kill tied the frame at 23-all followed by another Blue Angel error for set point setting up Akgol with the service ace for a 2-0 set lead.
Pratt came out flat in the third and mustered just five kills after 30 in the opening two sets and let Mount Mary race out to an 11-4 lead and couldn't get back into the set.
The Blue Angels carried the momentum into the fourth and built a 10-5 lead before an 8-1 run powered by a pair of aces by Sontag and Colondona put the Cannoneers on top 13-11. Mount Mary regained the lead briefly at 16-14, but the Cannoneers closed out the match on a 9-2 spurt with Sontag putting away three kills in the run.
