Syracuse, N.Y.  – The Le Moyne College volleyball team hosted NEC rival Central Connecticut State University in their first meeting of the season on Friday night. The Dolphins fell in three sets (12-25, 21-25, 20-25) and now have a 3-17 overall record while going 2-6 in conference play this year.  

Five straight points in set one put the Blue Devils up 10-3 early as the squad kept the Dolphins down by at least seven points throughout the rest of the set. Central Connecticut later pulled away for a 25-12 set victory. 

In set two, both teams came out on the attack and tied five different times early before the Blue Devils pulled away to take a 12-10 lead. Despite scoring in seven of the final 12 points, Le Moyne was unable to mount a comeback and dropped the set, 21-25. 

Set three began in a similar fashion with both teams going back-and-forth before four consecutive points put CCSU up 14-8 midway through. The Dolphins, after falling down 12-19, worked to pull back within three points at the 22-19 mark before the Blue Devils closed out the set and match by scoring five of the next six points. 

Junior opposite hitter Branwyn Lupton (Napanee, O.N. / Napanee District Secondary School) led Le Moyne with eight kills while sophomore outside hitter Denali Louden (Murrieta, C.A. / Murrieta Mesa) finished second on the squad with six kills against the Blue Devils. Senior setter/DS Haley Gerken (Buffalo, N.Y. / Frontier) tallied a team-high 16 assists while sophomore libero/DS Brooke Menke (St. Louis, M.O. / Visitation Academy) and senior middle hitter Nil Ezgi Tasdelen (Izmir, Turkey/Ugur Okullari) led the way with one service ace apiece to round out the team's offense. 

Defensively, Menke led the Dolphins with 17 digs while Lupton recorded the team's lone block solo along with tying for the team-high in block assists (two) with sophomore outside hitter Payton Horan (Miller Place, N.Y. / Miller Place).

For Central Connecticut, Olivia Keckler (12) and Weronika Poczynek (11) led in kills while Anja Milosevic recorded a match-high 38 assists for the Blue Devils. Breanna Ginley led the way with four service aces in the win. On defense, Milosevic and Annabelle Denomme tied for the team-high with eight digs as Amanda Tokam added one block solo and both Ginley and Keckler registered one block assist. 

What's Next:
The Dolphins will return to Ted Grant Court for their Dig Pink / Pink Out breast cancer awareness match against the Blue Devils tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.