Northeast-10 Champion Falcons Open NCAA Play Thursday vs. Holy Family
ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. – Nearly two weeks after capturing the Northeast-10 Conference championship with a pair of come-from-behind five-set victories, the Bentley University Falcons will return to the court Thursday afternoon on Long Island when they take on Holy Family University in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II East Region at Molloy College's Quealy Hall. First serve is at 2:30 pm and a link to view will be posted at https://bentleyfalcons.com/sports/wvball/2019-20/schedule.
Bentley, making its first NCAA appearance in five years, has won 21 of its last 22 matches and is 26-5 overall after sweeping both the regular season and tournament crowns in the NE10. The Falcons are seeded second in the regional, behind the host Molloy Lions
Holy Family, the seventh seed, is making its second straight NCAA appearance. The Tigers, 24-9, were finalists in this year's Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference championships and reached the finals of last year's East Regional before falling to American International. AIC's setter on that team, Dolores Kopren, is a graduate assistant for Bentley this year.
Both Bentley and Holy Family were well represented when their respective leagues announced their All-Conference teams recently.
Bentley saw senior Xio Lopp (Kalispell, Mont./Flathead HS) chosen as the Setter of the Year, freshman Ingrid Murphy (Cotuit/Barnstable HS) the pick as the Rookie of the Year and sixth-year Falcon head coach Joey Pacis recognized as the Sandy Hoffman Coach of the Year. In addition, Lopp and classmates Rachel Bruno (San Diego, Calif./Francis Parker School) and Dani Milner (Plano, Texas/ The Greenhill School) were voted to the All-Conference first team.
Holy Family's Carly Covington was selected as the CACC Player of the Year and Morgan Silks received Setter of the Year accolades. Both players were also chosen for the All-CACC first team.
It's a match-up of two teams who are not familiar with each other. They've met only twice previously, most recently in 2014 in Pacis' first season at the helm.
While none of his players have NCAA experience, Pacis will be coaching in his fourth. In addition to leading the Falcons into the regional semifinals in 2014, he earned berths with Merrimack in 2007 and 2008.
Bruno, who'll be playing in her 118th consecutive match, leads Bentley in hitting percentage (.295), aces (33) and blocks (0.92 per set). Milner, who had a season-high 21 kills in the NE10 semifinals against Saint Anselm, has been playing her best volleyball of the season. She's averaging a team-best 2.75 kills and is hitting .274.
Lopp is among the conference leaders in assists, averaging 9.64 a game and is only 26 shy of 1,000 for the season. Murphy's rookie season has seen her produce 2.28 kills and 2.94 digs per set.
The winner of Thursday's match will take on either third-seeded Bridgeport or sixth-seeded Georgian Court Friday at 5 pm in the first of a semifinal doubleheader.
The regional championship match will be Saturday evening at 7:00 with a trip to Denver for the Elite Eight awaiting the winner.