The Emerson women’s volleyball team fought toward a 3-1 win over the St. Joseph’s College Monks on Thursday. In addition to a non-conference victory that got them to 11-8 overall, sophomore setter Chloe Hokenson recorded the 1,000th assist of her career.
“We put in a lot of work every day in practice, so getting [1,000 assists] was a huge accomplishment,” Hokenson said postgame. “And I was just super proud of my teammates for supporting me too. It meant a lot.”
The Lions and Monks kept pace with each other in the opening set until Emerson pulled away with an 11-5 lead thanks to aces by junior outside hitter Rachel Dickerson. They maintained their advantage through strong swings and St. Joseph service errors. At the end of the set, Hokenson set up Dickerson on the left side for the crucial kill that gave Emerson a 13-6 lead and Hokenson 1,000 assists.
Moments after making history, Hokenson’s teammates celebrated her achievement by cheering with paper signs from the bench.
The Monks quickly responded after the revelry, trailing only 20-19 after a series of kills and aces. Some more St. Joseph kills and critical errors by Emerson eventually knotted the score at 22, forcing the Lions to regroup. After Emerson led 24-23, first-year middle hitter Emma Luehring sealed the deal with the set-winning block.
A similar pattern followed in set two, as a kill by first-year middle hitter Catherine McDonough tied things up at four. This time, however, the Monks were quick to capitalize, scoring five straight points. More Lion errors kept St. Joseph in front until the home team began to chip away. But just as the Lions got within two after attack errors by the visitors, St. Joseph’s went on another run, eventually leading 18-12.
The Lions persisted and outscored the Monks 9-2, taking a 21-20 lead off of a spike by Hokenson. Both squads fought for the upper hand late, but the visitors claimed the second set, 26-24, after a pair of attack errors by the Lions.
A three-peat of aces by sophomore setter Sophia Schiappa gave Emerson an early advantage in set three before the Monks caught up. Both sides traded kills throughout the period before the Lions separated themselves with a 14-9 lead. Emerson’s offensive excellence continued while St. Joseph’s buried themselves with mistakes. Despite another late run by the Monks, the Lions took care of business, as a Dickerson kill gave them a 25-18 victory.
The Monks battled their way to an early 8-4 lead in set four, a run punctuated by a block against Dickerson. After a Hokenson ace, Emerson then hustled toward an 11-9 margin. The fired-up Lions proceeded to cruise to a seven-point lead after another Luehring kill, and refused to let up for the rest of the set. Set four ended in the exact same fashion as set three, as Hokenson set up Dickerson for the game-winning spike, and Emerson won 25-18.
Dickerson led the Lions with 14 kills Thursday, followed by Hokenson’s nine and six from first-year right side Lizi Horning. Hokenson’s historic night was capped off with a team-high 22 assists, putting her at 1,018 for her career. Schiappa contributed to the Lions’ precise work from the service line, finishing with six of the team’s 20 aces.
Hokenson appreciated the team’s tenacity throughout Thursday’s win, the Lions’ victory coming in spite of 27 service and attack errors.
“I liked how we came back from a lot of big errors,” she said. “We were down for a while, and we did a really nice job fighting back in those tough moments and [did] a nice job putting the ball away.”
Following a loss to the No. 15 MIT Engineers, the Lions return to the Bobbi Brown & Steven Plofker Gym on Saturday to face the WPI Engineers at 11 a.m.
