Columbia University
Stony Brook
Del Valle Earns First Career Double-Double In 3-1 Loss To Stony Brook
9/18/2015 9:35:00 PM | Volleyball
STONY BROOK, N.Y. ? Freshman Luciana Del Valle picked up the first double-double (16 kills, 10 digs) of her young career on Friday night as the Lions (2-5) fell to the Stony Brook Seawolves, 3-1, on the opening day of the Seawolves Invite presented by Holiday Inn Express Stony Brook.
After allowing Stony Brook to take the first three points of the match, the Lions were able to bounce back with three unanswered points to tie things up, 3-3, before the Seawolves would go ahead and take back the lead. Despite a 9-4 run that was sparked by freshman Luciana Del Valle to put Columbia to within a pair at 23-21 late in the match, the Lions were unable to finish the comeback as they fell in set one, 25-21.
The Lions came back attacking right away in set two, taking the first two points of the frame before a back-and-forth battle began to heat up. Tied at 11-11, the Lions were able to pull away with three unanswered points to take a 14-11 lead and force Stony Brook to take its first timeout of the match.
The Seawolves responded out of the timeout with a run of their own to put things tied at 21-21, however, but Del Valle was able to stay hot offensively and put down back-to-back kills to give the Lions a 23-21 lead and force Stony Brook to take its final timeout of the set.
Despite another point by the Seawolves, the Lions were able to take advantage of a pair of Stony Brook attacking errors and a block by Anja Malesevic to take set two, 25-22, and tie the match up heading into the intermission.
The battle continued in an intense third set as the Lions fought all the way to the final point, but the Seawolves were able to pull ahead with a 25-23 victory to take a 2-1 lead into the fourth set.
Columbia was able to grab an early lead to open the fourth frame but could not hold on as the Seawolves took the fourth set, 25-21, to seal a 3-1 victory.
Del Valle led the offense with 16 kills while Katarina Jovicic posted up 10 kills for an attacking percentage of .500. Alex Reale recorded 35 assists on the night while Cassie Wes led the back line with 19 digs.
The Lions will return to action on Saturday morning as they take on Army in day two of the Seawolves Invite presented by Holiday Inn Express Stony Brook at 9 a.m.
