Women's Volleyball Handles Curry in Conference Opener

MILTON, Mass. – In their Commonwealth Coast Conference opener, the Wentworth Institute of Technology women's volleyball team (8-4, 1-0 CCC) swept the Curry Colonels (3-7, 0-1 CCC) Saturday morning behind an 11-kill showing by junior Ema Thompson (Lewiston, Idaho).

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• After going down 2-0 in the first set, the Leopards came back to take a 3-2 lead thanks to a kill from junior Helen Barthe (Blythewood, S.C.) and a service ace from freshman Kate McLane (Columbus, Ohio). After Curry narrowed the lead to 6-5, Wentworth rattled off four straight points, capped by a service ace by Barthe. Two kills from McLane and another from sophomore Riley Schoonmaker (Montgomery, N.Y.) pushed Wentworth's advantage to 16-10 before back-to-back kills from McLane and Barthe continued the lead to 18-11. Kills from Barthe, McLane, Schoonmaker, and Thompson helped the Leopards clinch a 25-17 set win.
• Kills from Barthe and Thompson gave the Black & Gold a 2-1 edge to start the second set before the Colonels later forced a 4-4 tie. Errors, combined with a kill by Thompson, gave Wentworth an 11-5 lead before a Schoonmaker kill pushed the advantage to 13-7. A kill by McLane extended the visitors' lead to 16-9 before a kill by junior Abby Maher (North Granby, Conn.) continued the lead to 17-11. A handful of kills from Thompson and another from McLane carried the Leopards' lead to 24-16 before a kill by Maher capped a 25-18 set win, giving the Leopards a 2-0 advantage.
• With the help of kills from McLane, Thompson, and freshman Savannah Morford (Darien, Ill.), the Leopards set out to a 5-1 lead in the third set. Two straight kills from Thompson continued the lead to 7-2 before another from the junior pushed the lead to 8-5. A kill by McLane continued the lead to 12-9 before another by Morford extended the advantage to 15-10. Two kills from Morford that helped continue the lead to 18-13 were followed shortly after by two straight from Schoonmaker, bringing the Leopards' lead to 22-15. A slew of errors gave Wentworth a deciding 25-16 set win.

NOTEWORTHY:

• Thompson's 11-kill performance thrusted her over the 300 career kills milestone.

SERIES NOTES:

• The Leopards own the all-time record, 13-1, with their lone loss to the Colonels occurring in 2015.

NEXT UP:

• The Black & Gold visit UMass Dartmouth on Wednesday, September 27, at 7:00 p.m.

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