Hoboken, NJ – The Montclair State University fell to William Smith and Stevens in the opening night of a quad match on Friday night.

Montclair fell in four sets to the Herons before battling the Ducks to a decisive fifth set in the nightcap. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Red Hawks (7-5) fell behind early, as the Herons tallied four of the opening five points. After Montclair cut the game to 6-5, the Red Hawks rattled off five-straight points to take their first lead of the evening. With the score 16-13, the Red Hawks put together another run on a service error and kills from CAMRYN MUUSS and SARAH CAPONE. They continued their push as the set came to its conclusion, taking it 25-16.
• Montclair built a 10-5 lead early in the second stanza, led by kills from Muuss and ZOEY HORN. William Smith responded with seven of the next nine before RACHEL CURRAN ended the run. The Herons continued their strong second set, pushing the margin to 21-18 late. Horn tallied another kill to cut it to two before the Herons notched three-straight. EMILY FERRI tallied two kills as part of a four-point run from Montclair to make it 24-23, but William Smith closed with the final marker.
• The Herons raced out to a 12-4 advantage in the third set before Ferri recorded kills on two of the next three points. Both sides continued to trade points until Montclair rattled off three in a row to cut the lead to five. William Smith answered with the final nine of the frame to take the lead in the match.
• In a tightly-contested fourth stanza, Montclair and William Smith were level at 11 and later 17. The Herons added the next two before the Red Hawks equalized once again at 19. William Smith, however, scored six of the final eight points to clinch the victory.
• Montclair and Stevens could not be separated by more than three points until it was 19-15 in favor of the Ducks late in the first set. After Horn answered with a kill, Stevens notched six of the remaining nine points to take the opener despite two kills from RACHEL CURRAN down the stretch.
• The visitors bounced back in the second frame, taking an 8-3 lead on a stretch headlined by back-to-back kills from SARAH CAPONE. After Montclair gradually built an eight-point lead, the Ducks recorded six out of eight to make the margin 24-20. The Red Hawks clinched the set on the next point following an attack error.
• Knotted at 13 in the third, Montclair capitalized on three-straight errors to go ahead in the frame. Stevens answered and retook the lead with five of six, but the set was once again leveled as Muuss notched a kill. After Stevens briefly reclaimed the lead, the Red Hawks cruised to a set victory with a stretch featuring three aces from BRYN BAUTISTA. 
• With Montclair holding a slim 8-7 advantage in the fourth stanza, Stevens rattled off seven-straight points and later closed the set with eight of the last nine to force a fifth and final frame. The two sides traded runs to open the fifth and found themselves equal at 11 late. The Ducks recorded three of four, but after Capone cut the game to 14-13, Stevens finished it off with a kill.

INSIDE THE RESULTS

• Muuss collected 32 kills on the day, including a career-high 21 in the second match against Stevens.
• Curran notched her fifth double-digit kill contest of the season with 14 against Stevens.
• Bautista recorded a career-high five aces in the day's second match.

FROM THE COURT

"Tonight was a tough back to back with two very good teams. We started strong against William & Smith but had issues with passing and generating some offense. Their offense was efficient and they served us very tough. I'm proud of our effort versus Stevens. We came out a bit slow but settled into our game and took a 2-1 lead. The fifth set was a back-and-forth but we battled to the end. We fixed areas that we struggled against W&S and played a good match." - Head Coach Eduardo Stawinski

UP NEXT

The Red Hawks will conclude their quad match in Hoboken with a match against the Wentworth Institute of Technology on Saturday, September 21, with first serve slated for 3:30 PM.