KINGSTON, R.I. (September 11, 2015)—The Sacred Heart women's volleyball team went 1-1 on the opening day of the Art Carmichael Invitational hosted by the University of Rhode Island. The Pioneers' comeback was stunted in by the Mountain Hawks in the 3-2 loss to Lehigh, but SHU rebounded dominating Canisius in the day's second match.

The Pioneers close out the Art Carmichael Invitational Saturday against the host Rams at 3:00 p.m.

Noteworthy

• With 16 against Lehigh and 15 against Canisius Sarah Krufka has reached double-digit kills in six of the Pioneers' seven matches. The junior averaged 3.88 kills per set in the first day of the Art Carmichael Invitational
• Four Pioneers hit over .400 (Karly Shockey .471, Krufka .448, Katie Direnzo .444, Kiki Robinson .429)
• Sacred Heart hit a season-best .330 as a team in the sweep against Canisius 

3-2 Loss to Lehigh

• Lehigh hit  .383 for the match, including over .400 in four of the five sets. They committed just nine errors to SHU's 30
• Bruna Bon led the Pioneers with season-highs 18 kills and 16 digs. This marked her fourth match this season that the senior has reached double-digit kills
• Team had season-high 67 kills and 61 assists, but most errors at 30
• Third double-double of season for Kiki Robinson who recorded 30 assists and 10 digs

How It Happened

• The Pioneers took an early 5-2 lead in the first set, but Lehigh stormed back taking six of the next seven points. Despite SHU tying the game twice, the Mountain Hawks pulled away with three straight points for the 25-19 win
• Lehigh carried the momentum into set two and looked like they could potentially run away with it after taking a 10-5 lead, but Bon helped cut into that lead with three straight points before a Krufka kill and a Mountain Hawk error further trimmed the deficit to 11-9. Lehigh answered with three straight points and would not look back from there, as its lead would not get below four for the remainder of the set
• With Lehigh up 14-10 and appearing to be on its way to a sweep, Direnzo sent down a kill for the first of four straight SHU points to even the score in the third set. A SHU error put the Mountain Hawks up 23-21 in a close match. With the score even at 24 after a SHU service error, the Pioneers claimed the set with a kill from senior Karly Shockey and a Lehigh attack error
• Sacred Heart led the fourth set by four points on three occasions before Lehigh came back to tie the set at 16. In a tight game, with the Mountain Hawks up 19-17, the Pioneers came back with four of the next five points for their own two-point lead, 21-19. The score leveled again at 21 and 23, but back-to-back kills from Bon and sophomore Lila Palmer forced a decisive fifth set
• With SHU ahead 4-2, Lehigh rallied with seven of the next nine points to take control of the fifth set at 9-6. The Pioneers attempted one final rally with back-to-back kills by Shockey and Krufka to get within one and forcing a Lehigh timeout, but it wouldn't be enough as the Mountain Hawks took the set 15-10 

3-0 Sweep of Canisius

• Krufka led the match with 15 kills hitting .542
• The Pioneers out hit the Golden Griffins .330 to .141
• Thirty-five assists marks a season-best for Robinson in a three-set match
• Red-shirt sophomore Maddie Losure hit a season best .600 posting an errorless match and converting three of her five swings for kills

How It Happened

• The Pioneers jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first set, and only allowed Canisius a one-point lead once, 11-10. A kill from Kemper and two Golden Griffin attack errors quickly put SHU back on top and they never looked back with Krufka's eighth kill of the set sealing the 25-19 win
• Canisius took the first two points of the second set, but a Golden Griffin attack error, a kill from Bon and a service ace from Ana Gonzalez put the Pioneers on top, 3-2. The score tied on five occasions, but SHU never let Canisius take another lead en route to the 25-23 victory
• The lead exchanged hands six times early in the third set before Gonzalez's 12-point service had the Pioneers cruising towards the finish 25-11 finish line