OAKDALE, N.Y. -- The third time was the charm for the Bentley University Falcons.
The Falcons, who had dropped a pair of five-setters to Adelphi University earlier in the season, turned the tables on the Panthers, prevailing in five in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II East Regional Thursday night at the Dowling Gymnasium.
The back-and-forth 3-2 win (25-22, 9-25, 25-20, 19-25, 15-9) propels fifth-seeded Bentley into Friday night's semifinals (7:30 pm) where they'll be paired against the winner of the final quarterfinal match, top-seeded Dowling College, a 3-0 winner over number eight Georgian Court. Adelphi, the fourth-seed, finishes its season at 27-10.
Bentley's three seniors were all instrumental in the win. Alex Kearney (La Jolla, Calif./La Jolla HS), the program's all-time kill leader, added 13 to her total, and Cassie Kraft (New Braunfels, Texas/ St. Mary's Hall) had 32 digs, a number that put her over 500 for the fourth consecutive year. Kristine Mickelson (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch HS) had three of her nine kills in the fifth set.
The fifth set was the only one in which Bentley established control from the start. A Mickelson kill and two by junior Andrea Farah (Miami, Fla,/Palmer Trinity HS) staked the Falcons to a 3-0 lead. After the Panthers closed to within one, a kill by freshman Amy Waitkus (Phoenix, Ariz./Arcadia HS), an ace from junior Maitlyn Kraft (New Braunfels, Texas/St. Mary's Hall) and a Kearney kill re-established Bentley's control, making it 7-3.
Four straight points, a flurry that included two kills by Berry and one by Kearney, made it 11-4. Bentley stretched the advantage to 14-6, but after being denied three times in its bid for match-point, locked up the victory with a Farah kill, her 10th of the match.
"We hit serving targets, passed serve much better to run our offense and just played really scrappy at the end," said coach Sandy Hoffman, who saw her team advance in the NCAA tournament for the fourth time in five years.
Bentley started slow in the first set, falling behind 9-3. Down by three at 21-18, the Falcons closed out the set with a flurry, scoring seven of the next eight points. Two of those were on Kearney kills.
After a dismal second set in which Bentley gave up the final 10 points, the Falcons bounced back in the third, using an 8-2 spurt to take the lead for good midway through the set. Sophomore Virginia Wong (Quincy/North Quincy HS) and Farah each had three kills in the set, and Mickelson served two aces to cap the run.
Set four saw Adelphi jump out to a 9-4 start and then use a 10-3 spurt to take command, 21-13.
In addition to the efforts from the seniors and Farah, Bentley received 41 assists from junior setter Kelly Mee (Ivyland, Pa./Council Rock North HS), along with nine digs, four blocks and four kills.
Junior Hilary Pavels (North Woodmere, N.Y.) led Adelphi with 16 kills, and junior setter Heather Mau (Honolulu, Hawaii) had 44 assists, 11 digs, five blocks and six kills.
Adelphi hit better overall (.224 to .149), but the Falcons had the big advantage in the decisive fifth set, swinging at a .462 clip.
Bentley and Dowling met once during the season, with the Golden Lions prevailing in four back in early September.
