Volleyball Earns Seventh Straight Win Five-Set Triumph Over Regionally Ranked Bentley

Bridgeport, Conn.-The University of Bridgeport women's volleyball team upped its winning streak to seven matches on Wednesday night, as the Purple Knights posted an impressive, five-set home triumph over the visiting Bentley University Falcons in Hubbell Gym.  UB won its final non-conference match of the season by scores of 25-17, 26-24, 25-27, 25-27, 15-9.  Bridgeport is now 15-8 overall, and the Flacons, who entered played ranked number seven in the first NCAA Division II regional rankings of the year, are now 13-9 overall.  UB is now 8-3 at home so far in 2021, and the team moves its record in five-set matches to 4-3.

The Purple Knights cruised to the win in Wednesday's opening set and scrapped back to win set two and had a match point in the third before the Falcons won the third and fourth sets by identical 27-25 scores.

Bridgeport raced out to leads of 4-0 and 7-2 in the fifth and deciding set before closing things out by a 15-9 score.

Four UB players reached double-digit kills on Wednesday led by freshman Paola Hernandez (Bayamon, P.R.) with 19.  Hernandez finished with her eleventh double-double of the season adding 17 digs for the winners.

Seniors Emily Burford (Albuquerque, N.M.) and Amanda Keller (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) plus freshman Melanie Smith (Ft. Collins, Colo.) each finished with 13 kills on the night.  Both Burford and Smith finished with their own double-doubles, as Emily had 10 digs and Melanie chipped in 13.

Freshman setter Jaden Drollinger (Queens Creek, Az.) fell just shy of a double-double as she directed the UB offense to the tune of 53 assists and had nine digs.  Drollinger had a solid all-round evening, as she also had four service aces and one kill and one block.

Graduate student Amanda Hennemann (Nova Petropolis, Brazil) led the Bridgeport backline with 27 digs on the night.

Bentley's Ingrid Murphy finished one service ace shy of a rare triple-double, as she finished with 17 kills, 24 digs and nine services aces for the Flacons on Wednesday.

Up next, the Purple Knights will look to continue their winning ways with a weekend road trip to Western New York for two East Coast Conference matches beginning on Saturday at 12 noon against D'Youville College.  UB will wrap up the trip with an 11:00 a.m. start on Sunday at conference-leading Daemen.