Volleyball Wins at Holy Cross in Five; Broccoli Claims First Win at CCSU

The Central Connecticut volleyball team won in five sets at Holy Cross on Saturday in Worcester, MA. Lauren Milani and Weronika Poczynek each notched a double-double in the match and Larissa Hiemer had 50 assists to guide the offence. Head coach Alyssa Broccoli earned her first career win at CCSU.

Central hosts its home-opener against Saint Peter's on Tuesday.

GAME INFORMATION | BOX SCORE

Score:  CCSU 3, HOLY CROSS 2 (25-21, 24-26, 22-25, 25-22, 15-12)
Records: CCSU (1-6), HC (2-7)
Location: Blaney Gymnasium | Worcester, MA

KEY MOMENTS

• The Blue Devils jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the opening set following a kill by Poczynek. The Crusaders would battle back and took a brief, 11-10, lead before CCSU responded with four straight points. Larissa Hiemer would serve up an ace to make it 14-11 and Central would not trail again. CCSU led by as much as 21-16, but Holy Cross would get within a point before back-to-back kills by Milani and another by Olivia Keckler closed out the set.
• Holy Cross never trailed in a back-and-forth second set. The Blue Devils would tie the set at 14-14, but the Crusaders scored three straight to maintain its lead. CCSU tied the set at 24-all after a kill by Poczynek before Holy Cross scored back-to-back points to close it out.
• Central would hold a lead in the early-going of the third set and a kill by Milani would make it 9-8. Holy Cross would score three straight to take a lead and Central would tie it again at 11 after a block by Keckler and Kaylin Hadley, but they would be unable to regain the lead.
• In the fourth frame, CCSU would jump out to a 7-3 lead following a block by Poczynek and Amanda Tokam. The Blue Devils would not give up their lead and after Holy Cross got to within, 23-22, CCSU would score on a Holy Cross error and get a kill by Poczynek to force a fifth set.
• CCSU took the lead from the start in the fifth set with a kill by Milani and an ace by Annabelle Denomme. The Blue Devils pushed the advantage to as much as 11-5, before closing the match out with a kill by Keckler to earn their first win of the season.

NUMBER TO KNOW

50 – Heimer notched a conference-leading 50 assists for a five-set match.

NOTES

• CCSU has won seven straight meetings against Holy Cross and is 14-2 in the series since 2002.
• Milani and Poczynek each had 18 kills. Poczynek had a team-high 18 digs, while Milani finished with 22 digs.
• Hiemer finished with 50 assists and eight digs. The Blue Devils hit .194 as a team with a season-best 56 kills.
• Tokam had a team-high six total blocks, to go with five kills. CCSU finished with 10.0 total blocks as a team.
• Keckler finished with 13 kills and four blocks.

UP NEXT

• Central hosts its home-opener against Saint Peter's on Tuesday.

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