NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's volleyball team boasted four players with 12 or more kills and held on to defeat visiting Salve Regina University in five sets, (26-24, 27-25, 22-25, 19-25, 15-10) this evening in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at Emerson Gymnasium on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The match was the first NEWMAC contest between the schools since Salve Regina joined the league prior to the season. The Lyons improve to 12-11 overall and 4-5 in league play, while the Seahawks dip to 10-13 and 0-9.
Both teams maintained healthy hitting marks with Wheaton owning a .299 clip and the visitors swinging at .236, but the service line was a source of points given, rather than taken for both squads. The teams combined to serve up 36 errors, including 20 by the Lyons.
Sophomore outside hitter Sydney Lyon (Weston, Conn.) put down 15 kills, including five in the fifth set, to go with three digs and four block assists for Wheaton. She hit .385 for the night, while classmate Celina Henn (Atwater, Calif.) put down 15 kills and added 10 digs for her 10th double-double of the year in addition to a pair of aces and two block assists to give her a team-high 18 points. Sophomore middle hitter Hollis Hanson (Parker, Colo.) spiked for a career-high 14 kills on a .385 hitting clip and added four block assists and fellow sophomore middle hitter Julia Wingler (Fuquay Varina, N.C.) swung for 12 kills fueled by a .400 hitting stroke in addition to an ace, three block assists and a dig. Senior setter Julianna Flack (Saint Petersburg, Fla.) recorded 45 assists to go with two aces, nine digs and two block assists, while first year libero Jackie Hochberg (Tampa, Fla.) picked up a match-high 14 digs and fired three aces.
Sophomore outside hitter Lucy Swanson (West Yarmouth, Mass.) swung for a match-high 20 kills and committed just three errors to post a .447 hitting percentage for Salve Regina, while senior right side hitter Brighton Solheim (Phoenix, Ariz.) spiked for 10 kills, served up four aces, scooped up 12 digs and got up for three total blocks. Sophomore right side hitter Lauren Hoyle (Albany, N.Y.) contributed with 10 kills and a block assist and junior setter Siena DeCicco (Severna Park, Md.) registered 33 assists, fired four aces, got down for four digs and assisted on a pair of blocks.
The teams were knotted at 4-4 in the opening set before a 9-3 run, paced by three kills from Wingler, gave the Lyons a 13-7 advantage. Wheaton later maintained a 19-14 margin, before five unanswered points, including a pair of aces from DeCicco, pulled the Seahawks even at 19-19. The Lyons scored four of the next five points to put them at 23-20, but three straight scores from the visitors tied the set again at 23-23 after a Hoyle kill. Wheaton secured the frame with three of the next four points, including a set-ending kill from Hanson.
The Lyons grinded out another two-point win going beyond the required 25 points to take a 2-0 match lead. Salve Regina took an early 7-5 lead, before an 8-2 run, led by two kills from Wingler and a pair of aces from Flack, gave the home team a 13-9 difference. The Seahawks scored four straight points for the first of three four-point spurts by both teams that resulted in an 18-18 set. The frame remained deadlocked at 25-25, before Wheaton scored the final two points and was the beneficiary of some deja vu with a kill from Hanson to end the set.
The Lyons took a 13-9 margin, including two kills each from Henn and Hanson, before four unanswered points pulled Salve Regina even again at 13-13 in the third set. Wheaton later held a 16-15 edge, but the Seahawks took the lead for good following three straight points for an 18-16 lead. Salve Regina looked to extend the match, holding set point at 24-20, but the Lyons made the visitors work for it, closing to within 24-22, before the Seahawks registered the final point.
Salve Regina breathed a little easier in the fourth set, taking a 13-6 lead in a frame it never trailed in. The Seahawks owned leads of 18-11 and their biggest cushion at 22-14, before Swanson put away a kill to give the visitors the set at 25-19 to force a fifth frame.
Wheaton committed just one attack error and scored the first four points of the deciding set, including three from Lyon. Wheaton held a 9-4 margin, before a Solheim kill cut the deficit to 9-5 for the Seahawks. The Lyons scored the next three points to increase their margin to 12-5, before a 4-1 burst, capped by a Solheim kill, cut the margin to 13-9 for Salve Regina. Wheaton scored three of the final four points to take the set and the match.
The Lyons return to action on Thursday, October 26 when they travel to Keene, N.H. to take on Keene State College for a 7:00 p.m. match, while the Seahawks look to snap their seven-match losing streak on Saturday, October 28 in a tri-match with Westfield State University at Plymouth State University in Plymouth, N.H.
