{"id":356414,"date":"2026-09-25T04:42:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T04:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/356414\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T04:42:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T04:42:54","slug":"quinnipiac-begins-metro-action-at-iona-manhattan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/356414\/","title":{"rendered":"Quinnipiac Begins Metro Action at Iona & Manhattan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quinnipiac at Iona
\nFriday, Sept. 25 | 5:00 PM
\nHynes Athletics Center | New Rochelle, NY
\nWatch\u00a0(ESPN+)<\/a> |\u00a0Live Stats<\/a><\/p>\n

Quinnipiac at Manhattan

\nSaturday, Sept. 26 | 2:00 PM

\nDraddy Gymnasium | Riverdale, NY

\nWatch<\/a> |\u00a0Live Stats<\/a><\/p>\n

HAMDEN, CT\u00a0\u2013 Quinnipiac women’s volleyball is set to begin Metro Conference action on Friday and Saturday, hitting the road to travel to both Iona and Manhattan for league matchups.<\/p>\n

2026 NOTES
\n \n<\/p>\n


\n\tThe Bobcats are 1-10 so far during the non-conference portion of the schedule. Quinnipiac picked up its first win of the year on Sept. 5 over NJIT (3-0 final).
\n\tFirst-year Bobcat\u00a0Giulia Ragusa<\/a>\u00a0has paced QU offensively so far, leading the charge with 112 total kills. She also has 49 digs. She was selected as the Metro Volleyball Rookie of the Week after her performance at the DSU Invitational, as revealed by the league office on Sept. 8, 2026. Ragusa finished the non-conference tournament hosted at Delaware State with 35 kills over three contests.
\n\tSahra Ozbiltekin<\/a>\u00a0has chipped in with 92 kills.
\n\tSophia Gisslen<\/a> has registered 235 assists for Quinnipiac, while Klara Olszewska<\/a>\u00a0has 178 assists.
\n\tGisslen recently set a new Quinnipiac single-game record, dishing out 63 total helpers in a non-conference matchup vs. Binghamton.
\n\tCarola Negron Diaz<\/a>\u00a0has helped anchor the defensive side with 104 total digs.
\n\tSila Yildiz<\/a>\u00a0leads the program in blocks (36.0). <\/p>\n

MEET THE 2026 BOBCATS<\/p>\n


\n\tKey returners for the Bobcats in 2026 include junior\u00a0Carola Negron Diaz<\/a>, and sophomores\u00a0Asia Belli<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Vittoria Tonelli<\/a>.
\n\tCarola Negron Diaz<\/a>\u00a0finished second on the team with 344 digs last year as a sophomore, averaging 3.41 digs per set. She also tallied 123 assists and 23 service aces. Diaz posted 25.0 points from the libero position. She also tallied 20+ digs in three different contests.
\n\tAsia Belli<\/a>\u00a0started 30 matches for the Bobcats during her first season in Hamden. She recorded 136 kills and finished fourth on the team with 62 total blocks. Belli\u00a0added 34 service aces, 63 digs and 207.0 total points.
\n\tVittoria Tonelli<\/a>\u00a0appeared in 23 matches as a first-year Bobcat in 2025, finishing fourth on the team with 126 kills. She also tallied 113 digs and 14 blocks. Tonelli registered a season-high 14 kills vs. Sacred Heart on 10\/25\/25.
\n\tQuinnipiac has 13 total student-athletes on its 2026 roster, including seven newcomers (Veronica Patti<\/a>,\u00a0Farah Sherif<\/a>,\u00a0Sophia Gisslen<\/a>,\u00a0Giulia Ragusa<\/a>,\u00a0Sophia Minlend<\/a>,\u00a0Didar Bulbul<\/a>,\u00a0Sila Yildiz<\/a>).
\n\tThe Bobcats represent seven different countries in total. Quinnipiac volleyball has four student-athletes from Italy, four from Turkey, one from Poland, one from Egypt, one from Germany, one from Puerto Rico and one from the United States. <\/p>\n

HEAD COACH KYLE ROBINSON<\/p>\n


\n\tReigning MAAC Coach of the Year\u00a0Kyle Robinson<\/a>\u00a0enters his eighth season at the helm of the Quinnipiac volleyball program in 2026. Robinson, Quinnipiac volleyball’s all-time winningest coach, has guided the Bobcats to 100\u00a0total wins during 7+ years.
\n\tHe led the Bobcats to a MAAC title & NCAA Tournament appearance in 2022, and was recently named MAAC Coach of the Year in 2025 after leading Quinnipiac to 19 wins. \u00a0
\n\tRobinson and the Bobcats have posted three consecutive seasons with a winning overall record. <\/p>\n

BOBCATS SELECTED NO. 2 IN PRESEASON CONFERENCE POLL<\/p>\n


\n\tThe Quinnipiac women’s volleyball program has been selected second overall in the 2026 Metro Preseason Coaches’ Poll, as revealed by the league office on Thursday, Aug. 20.
\n\tThe Bobcats (127 points) finished just behind Fairfield (142 points) for the top overall spot. Quinnipiac earned one first-place vote in the preseason poll.\u00a0 <\/p>\n


\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t2026 Metro Volleyball Preseason Coaches’ Poll
\n\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t1
\n\t\t\tFairfield
\n\t\t\t142 (10)
\n\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t2
\n\t\t\tQuinnipiac
\n\t\t\t127 (1)
\n\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t3
\n\t\t\tRider
\n\t\t\t110 (1)
\n\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t4
\n\t\t\tCanisius
\n\t\t\t101
\n\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t5
\n\t\t\tNiagara
\n\t\t\t81
\n\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t6
\n\t\t\tSiena
\n\t\t\t80
\n\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t7
\n\t\t\tSacred Heart
\n\t\t\t77
\n\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t8
\n\t\t\tMarist
\n\t\t\t62
\n\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t9
\n\t\t\tIona
\n\t\t\t55
\n\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t10
\n\t\t\tMerrimack
\n\t\t\t48
\n\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t11
\n\t\t\tSaint Peter’s
\n\t\t\t28
\n\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t12
\n\t\t\tManhattan
\n\t\t\t25
\n\t\t
\n\t <\/p>\n

\n2026 METRO VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP<\/p>\n


\n\tThe 2026 Metro Volleyball Championship will feature a six-team, single-elimination format and is scheduled for November 17-23. The first-round match will be hosted by the higher seed on Tuesday, November 17. The semifinals and championship final will be hosted by the No. 1 seed and played on consecutive dates, with the schedule determined by the host institution between Friday, November 20 and Monday, November 23. For more information regarding the 2026 Metro Volleyball Championship, please visit\u00a0here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

LAST YEAR (2025)<\/p>\n


\n\tQuinnipiac enjoyed another successful season in 2025, posting a 19-12 overall record and a 16-2 mark in MAAC play. The Bobcats earned the No. 2 seed in the MAAC Championship after posting one of the best conference records in program history.
\n\tQU advanced to the MAAC Semifinals for the fourth time under Robinson. Quinnipiac closed the regular season on a high note with a five-set comeback victory over Canisius and continued its run as one of the conference’s premier programs.
\n\tA trio of Bobcats were named to the All-MAAC First:\u00a0Damla Gunes<\/a>,\u00a0Elena Giacomini<\/a>, and\u00a0Yagmur Gunes<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quinnipiac at Iona Friday, Sept. 25 | 5:00 PM Hynes Athletics Center | New Rochelle, NY Watch\u00a0(ESPN+) |\u00a0Live…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356415,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-356414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}