WORCESTER, Mass. -- Junior outside hitter Mary Caroline Mazzanti (New Orleans, La.) paced the Wheaton College (Mass.) women's volleyball team with a season-high 15 kills as the Lyons swept Clark University in a 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-15) victory over the Cougars in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference play on Tuesday evening inside the Kneller Athletic Center in Worcester, Mass..

The win pushes the Lyons to 10-13 overall and 2-5 within NEWMAC competition, while the Cougars skid back to 1-15 overall and 0-7 in NEWMAC play.

Wheaton hit .243 on the day, reaching as high as .276 in the first set. They totaled 10 aces, with their opponents managing only three. Clark was held to only .122 hitting in the match, including a .069 third set.

Mazzanti led the offense with 15 kills on .300 hitting, but senior outside hitter Sydney Lyon (Weston, Conn.) was just behind her with 12 kills on .333 hitting. Junior setter Ajsa Orbán (Budapest, Hungary) had a great night, dishing out 32 assists and serving up three aces en route to the Wheaton win. Junior libero Jackie Hochberg (Tampa, Fla.) held down the defense with a team-leading 16 digs and picked up three assists.

Wheaton and Clark exchanged errors to open the match, reaching a score of 3-2 in favor of the visiting Lyons before a kill was recorded. Lyon opened her account first, sending home the initial kill of the game to put Wheaton up 4-2. Two more kills from Lyon and another from senior middle hitter Julia Wingler (Fuquay Varina, N.C.) put their side up 10-5. Lyon and Wingler pushed the score up to 12-5 with an ace and a kill respectively. After the Cougars responded with a pair of points, the Lyons stacked four in a row behind a kill from senior middle hitter Hollis Hanson (Parker, Colo.) to lead 16-7. The hosts managed a few scoring runs of their own, but a finishing blow involving kills from Lyon and Orbán saw the Lyons take the first set 25-17. 

Mazzanti opened the second set with a pair of kills amid a 6-1 run to open the frame before a pair of attacking errors by Wheaton opened the door for the Cougars. After trailing 10-6, the hosts went on a five-point run behind two kills from junior outside hitter Harper Chinn (Mamaroneck, N.Y.) to lead the Lyons 11-10. Wheaton regained a 12-11 lead thanks to a kill from senior outside hitter Celina Henn (Atwater, Calif.) and an Orbán ace. Mazzanti increased the lead with three consecutive kills, but another kill from Chinn tied the score once more at 17-17. Each team traded points, reaching 22-22 together before the experience at the pins for Wheaton paid off. Henn fired off two quick kills, and Lyon buried the set with an exclamation point with a kill to take the second set 25-23.

After Clark's late push in the second set, the energy was high entering the third. Each team exchanged blows to start the third, with Mazzanti rattling off two quick kills and Wingler adding another to put the Lyons ahead 6-4. Sophomore middle hitter Abigail Venis (Sudbury, Mass.) evened the score with two kills of her own to make it 7-7. After a kill from Lyon, the Cougars put three on the board to lead 10-8. Henn and Mazzanti took over the match, combining for six kills over a 10-point run to drive the Wheaton lead up to 20-12. Mazzanti added one more kill before the match's end, and the Lyons wrapped up the match emphatically with an ace from Hochberg.  

Wheaton will return to the court in Hartford, Connecticut as it takes on Hamilton College on the campus of host University of Hartford on Friday, October 24 at 5:00 pm. Clark will take a very short road trip as it faces Worcester State University on Thursday at 6:00 pm.