BOSTON, Mass. – Freshman Dana Day (Coarsegold, Calif.) had 14 kills and 24 digs and junior Cayla Clinkscale (Winchendon, Mass.) added 12 kills, hit .478, and recorded nine blocks as the Eastern Nazarene women's volleyball team defeated Wentworth, 3-1, in Commonwealth Coast Conference action at Tansey Gymnasium.
Eastern Nazarene jumped out to early leads of 9-1 and 10-2 in the opening set before four straight points cut the lead to 10-6. The Lions responded with a 7-1 run and held a 17-7 lead. However, the Leopards, thanks to a pair of senior Julie Rahilly (Nashua, N.H.) kills, scored the next four points to make it a 17-11 set. Wentworth would get as close as six against at 21-15, but Eastern Nazarene scored four of the set's final five points to take a 25-16 win.
Wentworth found itself in an early hole in the start of the second set as the Lions jumped out to a 4-1 lead. However, the hosts used a 6-1 run to take a 7-5 lead on a junior Michelle Hobbs (Northwood, N.H.) kill. Eastern Nazarene scored the next four points to take a 9-7 lead before a Rahilly kills and a sophomore Sam Curran (Quincy, Mass.) ace gave the Leopards a 10-9 lead. The teams would battle back and forth and see a total of eight ties, with the final one coming at 18-all. The Black & Gold would take advantage of three Eastern Nazarene errors to help score the final seven points of the set and even the match with a 25-18 win.
A fast start by Eastern Nazarene – including a kill and a block from Clinkscale – gave the visitors a 4-0 lead before the Leopards scored the next five points, capped off by a Hobbs kill, to take a 5-4 lead in the third set. The Lions, who trailed 9-6, scored the next five points, capped by an ace from Day, to take a 12-9 lead. The Leopards battled back to tie the set at 13-13 and the set would see ties at 15, 16, and 17 before Eastern Nazarene took a 23-17 lead on a block by Clinkscale. Back-to-back kills by freshman Ayanna Hampton (Dorchester, Mass.) and junior Mary Horgan (Mahwah, N.J.) pulled the Leopards to 23-19, but Eastern Nazarene reached set point on a block. However, the Leopards would not go quietly, staving off set point three times before a Clinkscale kill gave the Lions a 25-22 win and a 2-1 advantage.
The fourth set saw Wentworth take an early, 5-2 lead, before Eastern Nazarene used a 10-1 run to take a 12-6 lead. Four straight Leopard points made it 12-10 and the Leopards would again trail by two at 15-13 before the Lions rolled off six straight points to pull ahead, 21-13. Wentworth cut the lead to as few as five at 23-18 but two straight Eastern Nazarene points, finished off by a kill from Day, closed out the set at 25-18 and gave the Lions the win.
Sophomore Kortney Jenkins (Bunker Hill, W.V.) added 10 kills and 20 digs while freshman Hannah Welsh (Derry, N.H.) had 35 assists and four blocks. As a team the Lions had a dozen blocks.
Hobbs paced the Leopard offense with 12 kills to go along with 12 digs while Rahilly added 10 kills, 15 digs, and two aces. Senior Nicole Wetherbee (Pembroke, Mass.) had seven kills, four aces, and 10 digs and sophomore Shannon Ponce (San Jose, Calif.) had 32 assists. Curran had 20 digs on the afternoon to go along with three aces.
Eastern Nazarene improves to 13-16 on the season, while Wentworth falls to 8-15. The two teams, along with Gordon, finish in a tie for sixth place with identical 2-6 records in league play. The Leopards earn the sixth seed in the upcoming CCC Tournament by virtue of the third tiebreaker – results against common non-conference opponents. The three teams, who split against each other and went 0-5 against the top five teams and 1-0 against ninth-place Curry, played Daniel Webster, Emmanuel, UMass Dartmouth, and Regis as common non-conference opponents. Wentworth finished 2-2, edging the Lions' 2-4 and the Fighting Scots' 1-3. The Leopards will be – for the second season in a row – at Salve Regina for a first round match on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.
