The Medgar Evers College women's volleyball team faced a pair of challenging road tests over the past week, dropping straight-set decisions to the York College Cardinals on Tuesday before falling to the SUNY Purchase Panthers in three sets Thursday evening.
The Cougars opened the stretch on September 15 at the York College Athletic Complex, where the Cougars fell to the Cardinals by scores of 7-25, 14-25, and 18-25. Despite the final result, Medgar Evers showed its most competitive stretch in the third set, recording 18 points after trailing by wider margins in the opening two frames.
Moutiatou Djibring provided one of the Cougars' top offensive performances, finishing with a team-high five kills on 12 attacks while hitting .333. She also contributed two service aces and finished with seven total points. Shanya Aitcheson added two kills and six digs, while Raine Williams registered three service aces and three digs. Danajah Lawrence contributed a kill, an ace and four digs, while the Cougars collectively totaled nine kills and 15 digs.
York received a balanced offensive effort, with Zia Lefebvre leading the Cardinals with seven kills and 12 digs. MaliaJewel Bembry-Morris added eight kills while hitting .545, and Sonia Correa posted four kills on six attacks while adding eight assists and nine service aces.
Two days later, the Cougars traveled to the Purchase College Gymnasium to face the SUNY Purchase Panthers. Purchase claimed a 25-9, 25-7, 25-4 victory, improving to 2-3 on the season while Medgar Evers moved to 0-6.
Aitcheson led Medgar Evers with two kills, while the Cougars received three digs apiece from Sarah Vallon and Danajah Lawrence. Vallon also contributed three points, while Aitcheson finished with two points. Moutiatou Djibring recorded the team's lone block and added a dig, while the Cougars totaled 11 digs and three points from their blocking effort.
Purchase controlled the match from the service line, recording 40 aces as a team. Natalia Leite paced the Panthers offensively with seven kills on nine attacks (.556), nine assists and five aces, while Gabby Vanterpool contributed 12 service aces. Maya Brown added three kills and three aces, and Lily Dos Santos recorded six assists and nine aces.
With the two-match stretch now complete, the Cougars will look to regroup when they return to the court Tuesday evening, September 22, traveling to the Clark Athletic Center in Old Westbury, N.Y., to take on the Old Westbury Panthers at 6 p.m.
The upcoming matchup will give Medgar Evers another opportunity to build from its recent road experience and continue working toward its first victory of the season.
