When and Where: November 17, 2023 – Garden City, N.Y. (Center for Recreation and Sport)
Score: Adelphi University 3, Southern New Hampshire University 2
Records: SNHU 13-12, Adelphi 25-5

Senior Claire Wohlleber (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) produced a career-best 17 kills, but the fifth-seeded Southern New Hampshire University women's volleyball team had its comeback fall short in a five-set loss to top-seeded Adelphi University on Friday evening in the NE10 Championship semifinals at the Center for Recreation and Sport.

STANDOUT PERFORMERS

• Wohlleber – career-high 17 kills (.405), 8 blocks
• Redshirt-senior Ana Pimenta (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) – 11 kills, 17 digs, 6 blocks
• Graduate student Dai Thawnghmung (Lowell, Mass.) – 8 kills, 2 aces, 8 digs, 3 blocks
• Grad student Alessandra Peli (Brescia, Italy) – 8 kills (.381), 4 digs, 8 blocks
• Junior Carmen Bernardis (Trieste, Italy) – 6 kills, 3 digs, 4 blocks
• Junior Deanne Wilson (Buffalo, N.Y.) – 18 digs, 1 ace
• Freshman Katalin Kovacs (Budapest, Hungary) – 24 assists, 2 aces, 15 digs

KEY MOMENTS

• Adelphi led, 20-19, in the opening set, before it scored five of the final six to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
• The Panthers were in front, 22-20, in the second stanza and notched three of the next four to seize a commanding 2-0 advantage.
• Adelphi scored five straight to pull within 22-21 in the third, but a Wohlleber kill sparked a 3-0 run that allowed Southern New Hampshire to stave off elimination.
• With the fourth set even, 14-14, two Pimenta kills powered a 6-0 rush that made it 20-14. The Panthers scored three-in-a-row to slice their deficit in half, but the Penmen responded by recording five of the next six points to level the match, 2-2. Thawnghmung had a pair of kills during the stretch.
• Adelphi jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the deciding frame, but a 10-4 Penmen run – with two kills each from freshman Angela Mateos (Seville, Spain) and Wohlleber – tied the score, 11-11. It was 12-12 when a kill and an ace moved Adelphi to match point. Wohlleber kept SNHU alive with a kill, but a Panther kill ended it on the next play.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Set scores were 25-20, 25-21, 21-25, 18-25, 15-13.
• Mateos posted three kills, 5 blocks and a pair of digs.
• Freshman Madi Roar (Olive Hill, Ky.) tallied 10 assists, an ace and seven digs.
• Junior Eyleen Dias (Plymouth, Mass.) chipped in four digs.
• Sophomore Ella Koelb (Auburn, N.H.) added seven assists and a pair of digs.
• SNHU outhit Adelphi in the third and fourth sets, as well as .156-.155, overall.
• The Penmen doubled up the Panthers in blocks (20-10), while aces were even, 6-6.

NOTES

• Southern New Hampshire had won eight of its last 12.
• In its seventh appearance, including third straight, SNHU dips to 2-7 (.250) all-time in the NE10 Championship. The Penmen are now 0-2 against Adelphi, which fully avenges last season's five-set loss to SNHU in the NCAA East Regional Championship final. This was the second time in program history the Penmen were in the semifinals.
• Adelphi leads the all-time series with the Penmen, 17-2, and has captured six of the last seven. The Panthers also improve to 8-1 against SNHU at home. 
• Prior to the match, Bernardis earned the prestigious Elite 24 Award, which honors the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average (GPA) participating at the finals site at each NE10 Championship.

WHAT'S NEXT

• The Penmen will learn if they have done enough to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship when the NCAA Selection Show airs Monday, Nov. 20 (7:30 p.m.) on NCAA.com.

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