JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The Cabrini University women's volleyball team moved into the 2022 ECAC Championship semifinal on Saturday afternoon with a 3-0 win over Saint Vincent to move to 21-12 on the year.
Set scores were 25-17, 25-14 and 27-25.
With the win, Cabrini will take on Penn State Behrend on Sunday at noon. A win in that match will send the Cavs to the ECAC Championship final against the winner of Kean and host New Jersey City University.
Cabrini got 11 kills from sophomore outside hitter Sam Heenan with graduate outside hitter Hannah Dalton netting ten.
Graduate libero Gina Custer had six aces – a match-high.
Junior middle blocker Lily Baynum had four blocks, with senior middle blocker Victoria Camacho getting three.
Graduate setter Lexi Conte had 17 assists, with senior Melanie Cotes-Rivera getting ten.
Defensively, Custer had ten digs with Dalton getting eight.
Cabrini started out with a 7-2 lead in the first set, before the Bearcats fought back to take an 8-7 lead. The teams would trade the lead before Cabrini went on a 5-0 run to go up 19-14 partly from two service aces by Custer. With the score 21-17 in favor of Cabrini, the Cavs scored the final four points to win the first set, with Heenan getting two kills.
In the second set, trailing again 8-7, Cabrini outscored Saint Vincent 9-1 to go up 16-9 and never look back. During that run, sophomore defensive specialist Jessie Donovan had two service aces while Heenan had a kill.
The third set saw Cabrini stave off the Bearcats twice at 24-23 and 25-24, as Custer had a kill to make it 25-all and Heenan had the match winning kill at 27-25, following a block by Camacho and Baynum.