CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Wentworth Institute of Technology Women's Volleyball team topped the Lesley University Lynx 3-1 (25-19, 23-25, 25-15, 25-14) in a non-conference tilt tonight at Buckingham, Browne, and Nichols. With their 14th win of the season the Leopards tied their program record for wins in a season, previously set during the 2011 campaign, as they improve to 14-8 while the Lynx slip to 8-13 on the year.
Sophomore Jordan Young (Derry, N.H.) paced the Wentworth attack with a team-high 10 kills while junior setter Shannon Ponce (San Jose, Calif.) led all players with 32 assists. Freshmen Sheena Dignean (Constantia, N.Y.) and Stephanie Nihan (Dracut, Mass.) each recorded seven kills while junior Sam Curran (Quincy, Mass.) was strong on the defensive end, collecting a match-high 19 digs.
Leading the way for Lesley was senior Katrina Stroganoff (Cedar Grove, N.J.) who finished with a match-high 15 kills to go with her 17 digs while junior Danielle Johnson (Waterford, Conn.) knocked down 11 kills in the loss. Johnson also dished out a team-high 19 assists while sophomore Danielle McDonald (Lilitz, Pa.) was credited with 17 digs.
With Wentworth leading 4-0 in the opening set, the Lynx rode the serve of sophomore Katey Carew (Salem, N.H.) to score five unanswered points, grabbing a 5-4 edge. After exchanging points and the set knotted at 15-15, the Leopards would score nine of the next ten points before ending the first with a 25-19 win. Wentworth received kills from five different players in the set, including two from both Dignean and Nihan.
Lesley raced out to a 10-2 advantage to start the second set, much due to five Stroganoff kills and strong serving from junior Anthea Rathjens (Sudbury, Mass.). The Leopards would slowly chip away at the Lynx lead and went on a 6-0 run after trailing 20-15 to take a 21-20 edge. The Lynx would quickly recover following a Wentworth attack error before Johnson and Stroganoff each recorded kills to close out the set, 25-23.
The third set was all Leopards as they jumped out to a 15-4 advantage thanks to three kills from Young and two each from Nihan and sophomore Hannah Bailey (Plymouth, Mass.). Later in the set, the Lynx tried to crawl back in with a 4-0 run, but it was too little too late as the visitors rolled to a 25-15 set win.
The Lynx trailed 11-10 in the fourth set before the Leopards opened things up with a 9-1 run and eventually taking the set 25-14 and the match 3-1.
Bailey finished with eight kills for the Leopards who are now winners of three of their last four.
Lesley will be return to the court on Saturday, October 19th for a New England Collegiate Conference matchup with Becker College. Wentworth will also be back in action on Saturday when they play host to Newbury College at Noon.
