CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Wentworth junior Michelle Hobbs (Northwood, N.H.) led all players with eight kills, as the visiting Leopards topped Pine Manor 3-0 in the Gators' 2012 season opener. Pine Manor freshman Michelle Cole led the Gators with a team-high four kills in the setback.
Wentworth opened the game on a big run as senior Julie Rahilly (Nashua, N.H.) put down three consecutive kills to give the Leopards the early lead. With Wentworth leading, Pine Manor would battle back, but ultimately come up short as Hobbs and Rahilly helped pace Wentworth to 25-20 set victory.
In the second set the visitors were helped by a series of Pine Manor errors that helped them race out to a 13-1 advantage. From there, Wentworth cruised to a 25-10 set victory.
Trailing 24-18 in the final set, Pine Manor chipped away scoring three consecutive points to pull within 24-21. However, a service error gave the Leopards the final point they needed to take the 25-21 set victory and the 3-0 match victory.
In addition to Hobbs' eight kills, Julie Rahilly had five kills and seven digs, and senior Nicole Wetherbee (Pembroke, Mass.) had six aces. Sophomores Sam Curran (Quincy, Mass.) and Jessica Houghton (Billerica, Mass.) had three aces and nine digs and 12 digs, respectively.
Pine Manor will now travel to New London, Conn. for a tri-match on Saturday. The Gators will take on Mitchell College in their opening game at 11:00 a.m. before doing battle with Albertus Magnus in their second match. Wentworth will head to Nashua, N.H. to take on Mount Ida and Daniel Webster College in a tri-match, their first match is at 12:00 Noon.
(Portions of this recap courtesy of Pine Manor Sports Information)
