SALISBURY, Md. – The Pratt Institute women's volleyball team saw their 2023 campaign come to a close with a fifth-place finish in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference Women's Volleyball Championship dropping a straight-set (25-19, 25-14, 25-11) quarterfinal match to University of California, Santa Cruz on Friday morning at Salisbury University.
Named to the All-C2C Second Team yesterday for the second time, junior middle Olivia Julich paced the attack with seven kills and brought up as many digs. Classmate Josie Johnson had four kills with a match-best 10 digs and sophomore Emily Sontag also chipped in a quartet of kills and digs. Senior Gabby Genduso dished out 12 assists to finish her three-year career with 1105 helpers.
Kelly Ann Greene all players and seven different Banana Slugs (13-16) to record at least four kills with 10.
A 7-1 UCSC run early in the first built an 11-5 separation before the Cannoneers rattled off five straight to pull within one. Pratt hung tough and remained within two late in the frame at 21-19 but the Slugs closed out the opening set winning the final four points.
Both teams jostled throughout the opening half of the second stanza with nine ties and five lead changes with neither team ahead by more than two. The Cannoneers went ahead 12-10 on a Johnson ace, but then saw the Slugs win seven straight for the biggest separation between the two squads and UCSC closed out the set on a 15-2 run for a two-set lead.
The third set saw Santa Cruz race out to a 7-2 lead and maintain their separation to punch their ticket to the semifinals.
After qualifying for back-to-back C2C tournament appearances, Pratt concludes their season at 10-13 and looks forward to commencing play as full members of the Atlantic East Conference beginning in the 2024-25 academic year.
