BOSTON, Mass. – The Wentworth Institute of Technology women's volleyball team swept its home tri-match against Regis College and Massachusetts Maritime Academy. The Leopards controlled both matches and did not drop a set along the way. In the middle match of the day Regis College dropped Mass. Maritime 25-8, 25-17 and 25-8.
With the two wins on the day the Leopards improve to 8-4, which equals the total number of wins achieved during the 2013 campaign.
MATCH #1: Wentworth 3, Regis 0:
The opening frame began with an 8-8 tie before the Leopards went on an 8-3 run to make the score 16-11. Sophomores Hannah Bailey (Plymouth, Mass.) and Jordan Young (Derry, N.H.) led the charge with six kills between them to control the tempo. After exchanging points, freshman Stephanie Nihan (Dracut, Mass.) blocked a kill attempt to make the score 20-15 Wentworth. Nihan then stepped to the serving line and hit back to back aces to put the game out of reach. Freshman Amanda Hunton (Monroe, N.Y.) finished the game with a kill and the Leopards took the first set 25-19.
The Black & Gold jumped out to an early 7-0 lead in the second set before the Pride's Sara Gold (N. Hollywood, Calif.) served her team to a 6-0 run of their own to tighten things up. With the match once again tied at 8-8 the Leopards pulled away with solid serves from junior Sam Curran (Quincy, Mass.) and multiple kills from Hunton and freshman Sheena Dignean (Constantia, N.Y.). Curran then placed back-to-back aces to make the score 24-16 and Bailey ended the set with a kill to the back left corner for a 25-17 win.
Regis stormed out to a 7-2 lead in the final set before Curran stepped to the service line and crushed two aces. By the time Regis called a timeout with the score 17-10, the Leopards had gone on a 15-3 run. After the timeout, the Leopards continued their hot streak and won the set, 25-17 to complete the sweep.
Dignean led the Leopards with 10 kills and six digs. Sophomores Hannah Bailey and Jordan Young added 11 kills and 29 digs between them. Junior Shannon Ponce's (San Jose, Calif.) 23 assists were the most on either side. Hunton and Curran each had five aces in the match.
Regis was led by junior Jackie Silver's (West Hills, Calif.) seven kills and eight digs. Senior Vanessa Noesi (Puerto Plata, D.R.) added five kills for the Pride. Gold led Regis with 13 digs and junior Marilia Ramos (Chimbote, Peru) added 12 assists.
Match #2: Regis 3, Massachusetts Maritime 0:
Regis jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first set before the Buccaneers scored their first point. The Pride's lead ballooned to 20-4 with an 11-4 run before Maritime took four of the six points. Silver kept the pressure on and helped her team finish the set with a 25-8 victory.
The second set was tied at 7-all before the Pride took 10 of the next 15 points to make the score 17-12. Freshman Kristina del Rey (Miami, Fla.) led the charge with solid defense and overwhelming offensive production. The Buccaneers hung around to make it interesting but the Pride took the set 25-17.
The final frame was dominated at the service line. Del Rey continued her productivity and served 8 aces during a run that took the score from 13-4 in favor of Regis to 20-4. The 7-0 run pushed the Buccaneers out of the match and after a timeout the Pride finished with some back and forth play to secure the victory 25-8.
Silver's eight kills and three digs led Regis. Junior Sara Casullo (Little Falls, N.Y.) added six kills, two aces and five digs of her own, while teammate Kristina del Rey's nine aces were the most for either side. Del Rey also contributed five kills and four digs. Gold had eight digs and chipped in four aces of her own.
Mass. Maritime sophomore Emily Calnan (Hingham, Mass.) led the Buccaneers with three kills and one dig. Teammates Megan Weir (North Andover, Mass.) and Meaghan Brain chipped in four kills and four digs between them.
Match #3: Wentworth 3, Massachusetts Maritime 0:
Wentworth took 12 of the first 14 points to open the match before the Buccaneers called their first timeout. After withstanding a mini-run where Mass. Maritime took three of four points the Leopards stormed back to finish the match on a 10-2 run. Curran dominated from the service line adding four aces during an early run.
The second frame started out similarly to the first with Wentworth jumping out to an early 10-3 lead. After the Buccaneers added a point the Leopards ripped off eight straight points, the last three being aces from freshman Erin Patterson (Roseville, Calif.). With the score at 20-5, Wentworth closed out the match on a 5-0 run to take the second set 25-5.
The final set was back-and-forth for most of the match. Both sides took leads but could not build any lead bigger than two points. This even play continued until Wentworth called a timeout at 17-all. After the timeout the Leopards went on a 7-0 run to make the score 24-17. The Buccaneers would another point of their own before Wentworth closed out the match with a 25-18 victory.
In the match the Leopards served 25 aces, tying them for the fourth-highest in the single match in program history. Senior Mary Horgan (Mahwah, N.J.) and Curran had five aces apiece while Patterson added three. Horgan finished with eight kills and four blocks, sophomore Rachel Keen (Medford, Mass.) has six kills and three blocks, Patterson added five kills, and Bailey had four kills on five swings in the first set. Freshman Griffin Sacco (New Fairfield, Conn.) had seven digs and Ponce had 21 assists and five blocks.
Mass. Maritime was paced by freshman Meghan Brain's (Hanson, Mass.) four kills. Calnan added three blocks and senior Melanie Holder (Calidonia, Panama) and freshman Emilee Spiller (Sandwich, Mass.) had seven digs each.
Regis
Mass. Maritime