Lombardo Hands Out 1000th Assist as Volleyball Sweeps Becker

WORCESTER, Mass. – Talia Lombardo joined elite company Thursday night as she collected her 1000th career assist to anchor Suffolk volleyball to a sweep over Becker at Leicester Gymnasium. The victory, the Rams' last non-conference contest of the season, came by set scores 25-21, 25-18 and 25-22. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 3, Becker 0
RECORDS: Suffolk (11-14) | Becker (11-10) 

SET ONE RECAP (25-21, SUFFOLK)

• Suffolk jumped in front early thanks to scoring the first six points of contest including a pair of kills from Kayla Barbera.
• Becker got on the board, but it did not slow down the Rams who held onto a double digit lead at the midway point, 16-6.
• The Hawks hung around and made things interesting with a 4-1 stretch to trim the margin to two, 22-20.
• A ball handling error by Becker's Sofia Cullina stopped the run, but Cullina made up for it on the next possession with a kill to keep it a two-point set.
• Suffolk's sophomores Hannah Fabiano and Barbera took matters into their own hands and scored back-to-back kills to secure a 1-0 match lead for the Rams, 25-21. 

SET TWO RECAP (25-18, SUFFOLK)

• A more tightly contested contest was present in the second stanza with four ties and a pair of lead changes.
• Suffolk use momentum from Fabiano's kill to make a run for it with five quick points to gain a 15-9 edge that turned into an 18-10 advantage.
• Once again the Hawks attempted a comeback with a 7-3 spurt to pull within four, 22-18, but Suffolk put the set away with three straight points. 

SET THREE RECAP (25-22, SUFFOLK)

• The Rams early lead of 6-2 blossomed into a 12-3 cushion.
• The Hawks outscored the blue-and-gold 12-2 to flip the switch and go ahead 16-15.
• Suffolk responded with three consecutive points to regain the advantage 18-16.
• See-saw action was consistent the remainder of the way with the score leveling at 22-all.
• A kill by Chidera Nwankwo was followed up by a Lombardo kill that set up match point for Suffolk, forcing Becker to take a timeout.
• The break did not stop Suffolk who clinched the frame and match behind Fabiano's seventh kill of the night. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Lombardo finished her milestone outing with a double-double effort of 41 assists and 12 digs with three kills and one ace to her credit as well.
• Barbera produced 13 kills to lead Suffolk's 46-kill attack and the sophomore was one dig shy of a double-double with nine digs.
• Nwankwo provided nine kills with Allison and Fabiano each contributing seven. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk remains unbeaten all-time against the Hawks, improving to 8-0 in the series, which began in 2008.
• The Rams swept Becker for the fourth time in the all-time series and first since 2010.
• Lombardo registered her sixth double-double of the season.
• Lombardo is just the fourth place to record 1,000 assists through her career and first to do so since Liz Kerek '18 accomplished the feat a year ago.
• Lombardo is now fourth all-time with 1,016 career assists, while her 582 season assists sit third on the all-time season list. 

POST-MATCH PIC

ON DECK
Suffolk heads to Providence, Rhode Island Saturday, Oct. 27 when it concludes GNAC regular-season action at No. 2 Johnson & Wales and takes on St. Joseph's (Maine). The Rams will first face the Wildcats at 12 p.m., before wrapping up the regular-season against the Monks at 2 p.m.