EASTON, Mass. (August 30, 2024) - The Stonehill College volleyball team fell in its season opener on day one of the Skyhawk Invitational at Merkert Gymnasium, dropping a three-set match to Purdue Fort Wayne.

Highlights

• Senior Emma Graves (Vestal, N.Y.) led Stonehill with a team-high .389 hit percentage as she finished with 10 kills, one assist, one solo block, and one dig.
• Junior Mia Berardino (Rowley, Mass.) matched Graves' team-high mark of 10 kills while also tallying six digs and two assists.
• Sophomore Georgia Murphy (Plano, Texas) notched six kills, three digs, and two block assists to match a team-high mark on the defensive end.
• Fellow sophomore Abby Farrell (Reading, Mass.) also had two block assists while recording four kills, three service aces, and a solo block for a total of nine points.
• Freshman Amaya Parnell (Pepperell, Mass.) led Stonehill with 16 assists and chipped in four digs.
• Senior libero Bianca Fitch (Hopedale, Mass.) notched a team-high eight digs and had two service aces.

SET 1 | Purdue Fort Wayne jumped out to an early 4-0 lead but three straight points from the Skyhawks, two being kills from Graves, brought Stonehill back within one. The set would be back-and-forth into the game's later stages with the Mastodons going up by as many as four points before the Skyhawks tied it, 15-15. PFW used an 8-5 run to go up 23-20 but on the brink of defeat, Stonehill scored three straight points until ultimately dropping the last two points as the Mastodons won a neck-and-neck first set, 25-23.
 
SET 2 | PFW started the second set with four of the first five points but two kills apiece from Graves and freshman Gabi Polishuk (Woodland Hills, Calif.) cut the deficit to just one point nearly halfway through the set, 12-11. Farrell leveled the score at 16-16 with a kill but the Mastodons halted the Skyhawk run with one of their own, outscoring Stonehill 9-4 to secure a 25-20 win in the set.
 
SET 3 | The Skyhawks and Mastodons traded points early in the third set as Berardino, Murphy, and Graves each had two kills with PFW leading 11-10. The next five points went to the Mastodons but the Skyhawks hung around, rattling off three consecutive scores including a kill from sophomore Sammy Franco (San Jose, Calif.). Stonehill never pulled within three for the remainder of the set as Purdue Fort Wayne won the match with a 25-17 final set.
 
Up Next
Stonehill volleyball is back in action for the second day of the Skyhawk Invitational at Merkert Gym at 9 a.m. for a matchup with Holy Cross before playing Siena in the finale of a three-game weekend at 4 p.m.

For the latest on Stonehill Athletics, follow the Skyhawks via social media on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.