NORTON, Mass. - The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's volleyball fought for five sets but ultimately fell to Mount Holyoke College 3-2 (25-23, 15-25, 22-25, 25-22, 15-8) in Saturday afternoon's New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference volleyball game to close out the 2025 season for the Lyons.

The loss sees the Lyons finish with a 12-17 record overall this season. They finish with a 3-8 record within the conference. Mount Holyoke improves to 15-13 overall on the season with a 5-6 record in-conference. MHC earns a berth as the number seven seed to play in the NEWMAC Championship Tournament at number two seed Babson College on November 11 at 7:00 p.m. in Babson Park, Mass.

The Wheaton side was led by senior outside hitter Celina Henn (Atwater, Calif.) with 15 kills and 11 digs for a double-double, her eighth time reaching the statistical feat. Henn finishes her career with 953 career kills and moved into eighth on the Lyons all-time career list. Both senior outside hitter Sydney Lyon (Weston, Conn.) and junior opposite hitter Mary Caroline Mazzanti (New Orleans, La.) each reached 13 kills on the day, with the latter hitting .235. Junior setter Ajsa Orbán (Budapest, Hungary) and first year setter Emily Cordell (Crawfordville, Fla.) split the setting duties through the day, reaching 17 and 21 assists respectively. Junior libero Jackie Hochberg (Tampa, Fla.) finished with 17 digs and a match-high four aces.

Senior outside hitter Madeline Barton (Brookfield, Wis.) paced the floor with 25 kills on .224 hitting for the MHC Lyons. Senior opposite hitter Elle Rimando (Mililani, Hawai'i) was just behind her teammate with 20 kills on .220 hitting. Both players earned double-doubles with 12 and 14 digs respectively. Sophomore outside Olivia Murray (Miami, Fla.) had a solid day at the net with 10 kills on .121 hitting and seven digs. Senior setter Sadie Duffrin (Minneapolis, Minn.) nearly eclipsed the half-century mark of assists with 49 across the five set match. Junior libero Kyra Staples (Chatham, Ill.) paced the defensive side of the ball with 16 digs for her team. 

The visitors opened the match up with a quick run to jump ahead 7-3 in the first set. The home side took advantage of three straight Mount Holyoke attacking errors and capped off the run with an ace by Hochberg bringing the score back even to 7-7. Both teams fought over the lead as they exchanged errors. Lyon picked up an ace to give Wheaton the lead, but two kills by Murray brought it back to 15-15. They went punch for punch all the way up to 22-22 when Henn put down an emphatic kill to tie the game. The visitors leaned on Barton down the stretch as she fired home three straight kills to give them a 25-23 victory in the first set. 

The script was flipped by Wheaton in the second set as they were the first team to jump ahead. Henn found the floor for a kill as the home side took a 4-2 lead. The visitors were largely able to keep pace with the hosts thanks to the persistent efforts of Murray and Barton. Barton put down a kill and Wheaton made an error to make it 14-12 for the home team. Wheaton subsequently exploded for five straight points, highlighted by a kill from senior middle hitter Julia Wingler (Fuquay Varina, N.C.). Wheaton hung on to their massive lead with kills by Henn and Lyon, taking the second set 25-15.

The third set saw each side go on big runs to kick off the frame. The visitors opened up a 5-1 lead behind kills by Rimando and Barton, before the hosts responded right back with a six-point run of their own. With a two-point lead in hand, the home side managed to outlast their opponent only as far as the 15-15 mark after a Barton kill. A kill by Orbán and an attacking error by Mount Holyoke saw Wheaton take the lead once more, but Barton and Rimando answered with two kills to make it 21-21. Lyon led the way for Wheaton down the stretch, sending home two kills to give her side the set win by 25-22.

The fourth set started slowly, with Mazzanti sending down a kill to make it 5-5 after each side exchanged errors to open the set. A kill from Rimando, an attacking error by Wheaton and a service ace by Mount Holyoke saw them jump back in front 9-6. Wingler and Henn combined kills to help Wheaton tie it back up at 10-10, but a kill from Barton and two more from Rimando saw the visiting Lyons back ahead. A service error, an ace, and another Rimando kill gave Mount Holyoke a 20-16 lead. Wheaton made a number of errors down the stretch in the fourth, and eventually fell 25-22 after a Lyon kill cut into the lead on set point. 

The fifth set saw Rimando take control of the match as she fired off four kills in a row to give her team a 5-3 lead. Murray picked up two more kills around a Wheaton attacking error to make it 8-3 and flip the courts. Murray earned one last kill and Barton scored three more herself as the visitors cruised to a 15-8 win.