Oakdale, NY-The Dowling College Golden Lions defeated the Bridgeport Purple Knights 3-1 in the East Regional Championship game.
Box Score
Monika Kasperek led the attack with 12 kills
The Purple Knights came out strong in the first set as they built a 10-3 lead over the Golden Lions on the strength of kills by
Terry Masava and
Agatha Baliddawa.
Baliddawa finished with 7 kills in the set while
Terry Masava added 6 kills to push Bridgeport to a 25-13.
Monika Kasperek (Bielsko, Poland) led Dowling with 4 kills.
In the second set the Golden Lions rebounded to take a 25-21. Dowling battled to a 10-10 tie before a thunderous kill by senior south paw
Patrycja Klekotka (Siedlce, Poland) gave the Golden Lions a lead they would never relinquish in the set. Bridgeport called their last time-out at 21-15, but Dowling refused to relent on their offensive attack as
Monika Kasperek ended the set 25-21 to even the series at 1 apiece.
Both teams continued to trade points in the early in the 3rd set which resulted in a 6-6 tie before
Maja Potpara (Pljevlja, Montenegro) gave Dowling a two point advantage with back to back kills. The Purple Knights climbed to within 1 point at 14-13, but the Dowling attack responded to push the lead out to 17-14 before a Bridgeport timeout. Two Straight errors by the Purple Knights put Dowling at set point and Senior middle blocker
Kelly Scott (Moscow, ID) ended the set with a kill from
Erin Przybylowicz (Ridley Park, PA).
Maja Potpara led the attack with 4 kills. Bridgeport was led by Terry Masava with 3 kills.
The Golden Lions came out with a look of determination in the 4th set, almost as if they could sense blood and were ready to pounce. Dowling built a 7-3 lead, but Bridgeport would not go quietly into the night as they found back to within 1 at 12-11. The Golden Lions answered the charge by Bridgeport by expanding their lead back out to 18-15 before a Bridgeport timeout. Dowling would not stop their offensive onslaught as two kills by
Monika Kasperek and one by
Janae Giles (Sandy, UT). Bridgeport showed their resilience by fighting back to a 24-23 deficit before
Patrycja Klekotka tipped the ball over the Bridgeport blocks for the final kill of the match giving Dowling the NCAA East Regional Crown.
Klekotka finished with 4 kills in the set to pace Dowling and
Terry Masava had 5 kills for the Purple Knights in the set.
Patrycja Klekotka and
Monika Kasperek each had 12 kills while
Janae Giles and
Maja Potpara added 8 each.
Agatha Baliddawa contributed 15 kills and
Terry Masava 16 for Bridgeport.
Patrycja Klekotka,
Monika Kasperek and
Kelly Scott were named to the East Region Tournament team.
Note: We apologize to everyone viewing the webcast as we experienced some technically difficulties during the final sets. Tune in for all your Volleyball coverage as the Golden Lions make the trip to the Elite Eight!