Purple Knights Rebound To Prevail Over Caldwell In Five-Set Women's Volleyball Marathon

Bridgeport, Conn.-Feshman Paola Hernandez (Bayamon, P.R.) slammed the final kill of the fifth set, her twentieth kill in the match, to put the finishing touches on a comeback for the University of Bridgeport volleyball team, as the Purple Knights rallied from being down two sets to none to post a 3-2 non-conference home triumph over the visiting Caldwell University Cougars on Tuesday night in Hubbell Gym, 24-26, 22-25, 25-21, 26-24, 15-13.  UB, winners of four of their last five matches, are now 5-3 overall.  Caldwell remains winless so far in 2021 at 0-7.  Bridgeport is also now 2-1 in five-set matches so far this season.

Tuesday's contest was a back-and-forth affair the featured 28 ties and 16 lead changes.

Three Purple Knights finished with double-doubles on Tuesday, as senior Emily Burford (Albuquerque, N.M.) fished with a match-high 21 kills plus 13 digs.  Hernandez added 14 digs to along with her 20 kills, and freshman setter Jaden Drollinger (Queens Creek, Az.) had 56 assists and 14 digs.

Graduate student Amanda Hennemann (Nova Petropolis, Brazil) led the Bridgeport defense with 21 digs, and senior Danielle Kreitler (Shelton, Conn.) chipped in 13 digs and a block for the winners.

Senior Amanda Keller (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) had 16 kills and four blocks (two solos) to help the Purple Knights' cause.

Reese Sherwood led the Cougars with 13 kills on the night.

Bridgeport had 73 kills to only 42 for Caldwell in the five sets, but a plethora of Bridgeport errors kept the Cougars in the match, as UB had 29 attack errors, 22 service errors plus 15 reception miscues, as CU had 15 service aces.

Up next, the UB women's volleyball team travels to Rochester, N.Y. to open East Coast Conference play at Roberts Wesleyan College on Saturday afternoon.  First serve in Western New York is slated for 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.