Volleyball sweeps Rutgers and Seton Hall

UConn volleyball completed the sweep of New Jersey this weekend, defeating both Rutgers and Seton Hall.

The Huskies were victorious in convincing fashion, sweeping the Scarlet Knights in straight sets. UConn took the first set by a score of 25-19 and never looked back. They would take the next set by a score of 25-15 and the last set by a score of 25-23.

It was a total team effort for the Huskies as Devon Maugle recorded yet another double-double for her team with 11 kills and ten digs while Senior Mattison Quayle added ten kills and nine digs of her own. Freshman, Marissa Prinzbach dished out 31 assists and blocked four shots for the Huskies. Junior, Kelsey Maving continued her tremendous season with a team leading 22 digs. Immanuella Anugu picked up eight blocks in the game, two of which were solo, and killed six blocks as the Huskies dominated the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers.

Sunday’s victory against the Seton Hall Pirates did not come as easily as the win against Rutgers. The Huskies won in a thrilling game that went to an overtime fifth set. The Huskies took the first set despite never leading until the score read 25-24. At one point UConn was trailing by as much as nine, but the Huskies fought all the way back to take the set 28-26.

Seton Hall was able to take the second set by a score of 25-23. The Huskies fought back however and thoroughly defeated the Pirates in the third set by a score of 25-22. The Seton Hall Pirates showed that they would not be denied in the fourth set as they took it to UConn, at one point leading by eight. The Huskies did not lie down and fought back to bring the set’s final to score to 23-25. UConn was able to defeat Seton Hall in the fifth overtime set to 15 by a score of 15-11. The Huskies pulled victory away from the Pirates towards the end of the set and emerged undefeated on the weekend, going 2-0 against the state of New Jersey.

Sunday’s game saw some outstanding performances from almost all of their players. Devon Maugle had yet another double-double with 13 kills and 13 digs. Her teammate Mattison Quayle also had a double-double with 16 kills and 20 digs. Marissa Prinzbach continued her terrific freshmen campaign with 58 assists and 16 digs. Immanuella Anagu added 17 kills of her own while Kelsey Maving continued to deliever with 34 digs.

“We showed a lot of fight, a lot of heart and a lot of will,” said Coach Strauss-O’Brien. “I think statistically a lot of things went wrong for us, error wise, and it didn’t matter. Killing the ball wasn’t really our forte for a while there and we allowed them to get on some runs, but we found a way around that and I’m really proud of how they came together as a team and fought their way through that.”
This win brings UConn’s record to 16-10 overall and 7-4 in the conference. The Huskies will continue their surge towards the Big East Tournament against Marquette this weekend in Wisconsin.

Coach Strauss-O’Brien is very excited about her young team and the upcoming games, “In terms of a journey and a season, we’re doing what we need to do and I know we haven’t played our best yet which is the most exciting part.”