Yesterday afternoon, the volleyball team improved to 3-0 on the season with a 3-0 sweep of Our Savior. The victory also extended the Bears’ league match winning streak to 29 games, dating back to 2016. Since joining the PSAA in 2018, the Bears have won 15 matches by way of the sweep. Our Savior is the only PSAA team that has ever taken a single game off of the Bears in regular season play, both 3-1 wins for the Bears. The last time the Bears were pushed to five games in a league match was October 18, 2016, a 3-2 win over Mercy. It has simply been one of the most dominant stretches for any program in the history of Stony Brook Athletics.

The Bears took control right from the start as Niamh Scanlon registered six aces in the team’s first nine points. Ava McCormick notched a pair of kills during the run as the Brook built a 9-0 advantage. The Pioneers closed to within 6-12, but an Ella Middlekauff kill and a Lilly Keegan missed serve pushed the Bear lead back to 14-6. A few points later a sensational Scanlon dig led directly to a Keegan kill before Gillian Bernier rocketed a kill into the deck for an 18-7 lead. The Brook was untested the rest of the way in the 25-10 opening win.

Our Savior registered an ace on the first point of game two, but it would prove to be their only lead of the afternoon as the Bears quickly regained an edge behind consecutive kills from McCormick. A Lily Middlekauff ace and consecutive kills from Keegan and Bernier extended the advantage to 9-3 and the Bears didn’t look back from there. Over the rest of the game, Bernier notched three kills and an ace, Keegan registered two aces, Scanlon recorded a kill and an ace, and McCormick and Ella Middlekauff added kills as the Bears pulled away, 25-11.

In game three, Scanlon fired a pair of aces and McCormick added a kill as the Bears raced out to a 4-0 lead. Consecutive aces from Bernier extended the edge to 7-1 before McCormick bookended an Ella Middlekauff back line kill with two aces of her own, as the lead swelled to 12-2. The Bears remained in firm control the rest of the way until McCormick ended the 25-9 win with another kill.

The Bears are back in action tomorrow afternoon in a rematch at Our Savior.

_____________________________________________________________