NORTON, MA- Wheaton College hung tough with regional power
Wellesley College before suffering a 3-0 (20-25, 23-25, 17-25) loss
in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC)
women's volleyball action on Tuesday in Emerson Gymnasium.
The Lyons fall to 15-12 on the season and 2-5 in league action,
while the Blue, which came into tonight's match ranked 11th by the
New England Women's Volleyball Association (NEWVA), is 16-7 and
5-1.
Sophomore Miranda Howitt (San Francisco,
CA/International) accounted for 14 kills and seven digs to
lead the hosts, senior Lauren Kraus (Westboro,
MA/Westboro) added nine kills, and junior Becca Rose (Sudbury, MA/Lincoln-Sudbury Regional) tallied 34
assists and seven digs. Sophomore Emily Davisson
(Carpinteria, CA/Laguna Blanca School) and junior
Kristen Hunt (Milford, CT/Jonathan Law) finished
with 14 and 13 digs, respectively.
Senior Alice Kate Cummings (Tallahassee, FL/Lawton
Chiles) paced the visitors with 16 kills, while freshman
Elizabeth Campbell (Solana Beach, CA/Torrey Pines)
contributed seven kills and a team-best 14 digs. Classmate
Isabel Custodio (Powell, OH/Bishop Watterson)
handed out 18 assists, and junior Victoria Peng (Diamond
Bar, CA/Diamond Bar) had 15. Senior Naomi
Iwata (Seattle, WA/Seattle Prep) added 12 digs.
Set one saw Wheaton jump out to a 5-1 advantage behind strong
service from junior Kaitlyn Stokes (Tewksbury, MA/Tewksbury
Memorial) before Wellesley went on an 8-2 run. Tied
at 12, the visitors used a 9-2 run to pull away.
The Lyons opened the second set with 5-2 and 8-5 advantages, but
the Blue made the score 10-all in what proved to be the first of
eight straight ties. With Wellesley clinging to a 24-22 lead,
Wheaton freshman Olanna Nissim's (Greenwich,
CT/Greenwich) kill brought the hosts to within one before
Blue first-year Taylor King (Walnut Creek,
CA/Northgate) picked up the set-winner.
Wellesley scored nine of the final set's first 10 points.
The Lyons got to within five at 15-10, but the Blue eventually
pulled away in extending its advantage to 22-12. Four
straight points narrowed Wheaton's gap to six at 22-16 before the
visitors finished the set on a 3-1 spurt.
Wheaton travels to Mount Holyoke College this weekend to compete
at the Hall of Fame Tournament, where the Lyons will face local foe
Bridgewater State College on Friday at 7:00 p.m. Wheaton,
which defeated the Bears in five in mid-September, is the third
seed in the silver bracket, while Bridgewater State is seeded
sixth.
