BOSTON, Mass. - The Wentworth Institute of Technology Women's Volleyball team swept its non-conference home match versus the Newbury College Nighthawks, 3-0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-11) at the Tansey Gymnasium Saturday afternoon. With their 15th victory, the Leopards set a new single-season win mark for the program. In the loss the Nighthawks drop to 12-14, while the Leopards improve to 15-8.
Newbury opened the match strongly and took an early 3-1. Nighthawk junior Julia Flamenco (Copiague, N.Y.) notched a kill to extend their lead to 7-3 before Wentworth called a timeout. After the stoppage, the Leopards went on a 5-0 run sparked by a Jordan Young (Derry, N.H.) kill to tie the set at 8-all. The Leopards would take their first lead on a Sheena Dignean (Constantia, N.Y.) booming kill. The Nighthawks would tie the set at 11 before back-to-back kills by Young that pushed their lead to 14-11. Wentworth would finish the match on an 11-6 run highlighted by a Stephanie Nihan (Dracut, Mass.) block and a Hannah Bailey (Plymouth, Mass.) kill. Sam Curran (Quincy, Mass.) finished with an ace to give Wentworth the 25-11 victory.
Wentworth stormed out to an 11-1 lead in the second set behind three aces by freshman Griffin Sacco (New Fairfield, Conn.). Newbury called timeout and took the next two points, but Wentworth kept the pressure on and extended its lead to 18-7. Sophomore Hannah Bailey (Plymouth, Mass.), Nihan and junior Shannon Ponce's (San Jose, Calif.) net play allowed Wentworth to control the set and take the 2-0 lead with a 25-12 win.
The final frame began similarly to the second with the Leopards jumping out to a 13-2 lead. Young, Bailey and Nihan each notched three kills, while freshman Amanda Hunton (Monroe, N.Y.) controlled play at the service line. Newbury would bounce back with a 3-0 spurt to get the score to 16-6 in favor of Wentworth, but the Leopards were too much and finished the set outscoring the visitors, 9-6 to take the set, 25-11.
Wentworth was led by Dignean's 12 kills (on 18 swings) and three digs, while Young and Bailey each notched nine kills. Nihan added five kills and Sacco had a strong effort with five aces and two digs. Ponce led all players with 29 assists and Curran added 10 digs.
Newbury's freshman Madison Clemmons' led the Nighthawks with five kills, 14 assists and five digs. Classmate Lindsey Clark (River Edge, N.J.) added five digs and a kill, while Flamenco notched two kills and nine digs. Kylie Kowalski (Wrightstown, N.J.) had four kills and 12 digs in the loss.
Wentworth hosts Curry in a Commonwealth Coast Conference match Wednesday night at 7:00.
