Box Score ORANGEBURG, N.Y. – The Felician University women's volleyball team ended two ignominious streaks and allowed John Chang to becoming its all-time leader in coaching wins with its 3-1 (25-14, 15-25, 25-23, 25-19) Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference victory over host Dominican (N.Y.) College on Wednesday night at the Hennessy Center.
Felician (2-8, 1-4 CACC) put the brakes on a 24-match CACC losing streak, dating back to late 2015, with Wednesday's triumph. The Golden Falcons also ended a stretch of 21 consecutive setbacks in true road matches. Chang earned his 14th victory as Felician's head coach, one more than Alan Clements from 2007 to 2009.
On Wednesday, Felician scored the first eight points of the match, and the final seven. Golden Falcon junior outside hitter Paulina Calero (El Centro, Calif.) topped all players on the night with 14 kills and 18 digs. Sophomore middle blocker Gabrielle Napoleon (Springfield, Pa.) totaled 11 kills and five blocks for Dominican (0-14, 0-5).
After the Chargers answered Felician's lopsided first-set victory with one of their own in Set 2, the match turned on a tightly contested third set. Dominican recovered from deficits of 13-8 and 16-12 to pull even at 16-16, helped by a kill and a block from Malia Robinson (Jersey City, N.J.).
Napoleon put down three kills in a stretch of five rallies as Dominican went on top by as much as 22-18. But the Golden Falcons answered with the next four points and a 22-22 tie. A Felician error put the hosts back on top, but the Golden Falcons then used kills by Katie Asbery (Mililani, Hawaii) and Lauren Mack (Valparaiso, Ind.) to move back on top before capturing the set on a Charger attack error. In all, Set 3 featured nine ties and six lead changes.
Felican looked to have captured the momentum by taking a 5-1 Set 4 lead, only to see Dominican score the next five points. The set continued to unfold similarly, with the teams trading runs of points. Trailing 19-18, the Golden Falcons captured a side-out on a Kate Schneider (Cincinnati, Ohio) kill, then used a Mack ace and some sloppy play by the Chargers to close out the match.
Felician sophomore setter Charlotte Greek (Menifee, Calif.) finished with 25 assists and 11 digs. Schneider added seven kills to the Golden Falcon attack. Dominican received 10 kills and 18 digs from sophomore Deanna Knopf (Hauppauge, N.Y.).
Felician is home for just the second time this season when it entertains Holy Family University on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Rutherford as part of its Homecoming Weekend.
