BOSTON, Mass. – Junior Callie Dolan (Westford, Mass.) had eight kills and two blocks and sophomore Hannah Dahlgren (Queensbury, N.Y.) recorded eight kills and four blocks to help the Endicott women's volleyball team to a 3-0 win over Wentworth in Commonwealth Coast Conference action played at Tansey Gymnasium.
The Gulls jumped out to a 6-1 lead to open the first set, thanks in part to five Leopard errors, and would extend their lead to as much as 14-6. The Leopards closed the gap to as few as three at 18-15 as the Black & Gold took advantage of several Endicott miscues. Endicott scored the next two points to make it a 20-15 set before a senior Julie Rahilly (Nashua, N.H.) kill brought the Leopards to within four at 20-16. That would be as close as the hosts would get, however, as the Gulls scored the final five points to take a 25-16 win.
Endicott committed three straight errors to open the second set as Wentworth would eventually race out to a 6-1 lead. The Gulls would score five of the next six points, with two coming on freshman Jackie Cone (Salem, N.H.) kills to make it a 7-6 score. After a Gull attack error made it 8-6, Endicott scored the next two points, including a kill by Dolan, to knot the score at 8-all. The score would be tied two more times before the Gulls scored five straight and six of the next seven points to take a 16-11 lead before pulling away for a 25-15 win.
After Rahilly opened the third set with a kill, the Gulls rolled off four straight points, including two aces from sophomore Emily Gillich (Clifton Park, N.Y.), to take a 4-1 lead. Wentworth battled back to tie the score at 4-all and the two teams battled through three more ties to see the score knotted at 9-all. Endicott scored nine out of the next 11 points to take an 18-11 lead on a senior Ashley Norley (Sudbury, Mass.) ace and completed the sweep with a 25-16 win. In the third set the Gulls hit .440 as a team, committing just one attack error on 25 swings.
Junior Carly Beers (Traverse City, Mich.) added seven kills while Norley had three of her team's nine aces to go along with 12 digs. Freshman Mackenzie Guerre (Carlsbad, Calif.) had seven kills and two blocks on the night and freshman Alleigh VandeMerkt (Riverside, Ill.) had 26 assists.
Rahilly paced the Leopards with nine kills to go along with eight digs. Senior Nicole Wetherbee (Pembroke, Mass.) and junior Michelle Hobbs (Northwood, N.H.) recorded four kills and a block apiece and had eight and seven digs, respectively. Sophomore Sam Curran (Quincy, Mass.) had a pair of aces and a dozen digs, while sophomore Shannon Ponce (San Jose, Calif.) had 14 assists.
With the win Endicott snaps a two-match losing streak and improves to 10-16 overall (4-2 CCC). Wentworth falls to 7-12 (2-4). Both teams step out of conference play on Thursday as Endicott is at Colby-Sawyer and Wentworth is at UMass Dartmouth.
