Eagle grad nearly lifts team to road win

RUTHERFORD, N.J. – After falling behind early, Felician University missed a chance to extend the match before falling 16-25, 17-25 and 25-27 in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference women’s volleyball match to Nyack College on Saturday afternoon at Bowman Gymnasium.

The contest ended 2017 regular-season play for both schools. Felician concluded the 14th season in program history with an overall record of 4-22 and a CACC mark of 2-17.

The Golden Falcons finished in sixth place in the seven-team CACC North Division.

Junior outside hitter Paulina Calero an El Centro native and Southwest High graduate led Felician with eight kills and 15 digs against Nyack.

Calero became the third player in Golden Falcon history to surpass 800 career kills.

Calero trails only Jenna Matesic (891) and Amber Doran (813) in program annals.

Freshman middle blocker Kyra Zuhlke (Johnstown, Colo.) hit .409 with 11 kills to pace Nyack.

Set 1 contained seven ties and six lead changes.

Even at 12-12, Nyack tool the lead for good on an Abbey Lawson (Mililani, Hawaii) ace followed by a kill by Zuhlke.

The Warriors led just 15-14 before another Zuhlke kill touched off a 7-0 run for the hosts, who closed out the set shortly thereafter.

The second set was even on six occasions, the final time at 11-11, preceding a run of four consecutive points for the Warriors.

The Golden Falcons stayed within range, closing to within 18-17, but the hosts scored the next seven points to move ahead two sets to none.

Nyack looked to finish the day when it moved ahead, 20-15, in Set 3. But the Golden Falcons battled back for a 21-21 tie.

A Calero kill put the visitors ahead 25-24 and gave them a set point opportunity, but a kill by Zuhlke and a pair of Felician errors ended the match in favor of the Warriors.

Lawson finished with eight kills and three aces.

Felician received six kills and four blocks from sophomore Jazlyn Pipkins (Paris, Texas), while sophomore setter Charlotte Greek (Menifee, Calif.) totaled four kills, 23 assists and seven digs.