STANDISH, Maine -- First year opposite hitter
Lola Soroa Schaller (Puzol Valencia, Spain) led the way for the Wheaton College (Mass.) women's volleyball team as she knocked down a team-leading seven kills on .583 hitting to help the Lyons to a 3-0 (25-17, 25-13, 25-17) sweep over Saint Joseph's University (Maine) on Saturday in the Pine Tree State.
The Lyons improved to 10-16 overall with the win while the Monks fell to 13-12 overall on the season after the loss.
Wheaton was led by Soroa Schaller offensively as she finished with seven kills, one block assist and a dig. Junior middle
Katie de la Pena (Little Rock, Colo.) had a strong afternoon at the net with four kills on .400 hitting with a block assist. Sophomore
Emily Cordell (Crawfordville, Fla.) had the game-high in assists with eight while senior libero
Jackie Hochberg (Tampa, Fla.) led the floor with 13 digs, five assists and a kill.
Sophomore Addison Thomas (London, Ohio) led the Monks' offense with four kills on .214 hitting. Thomas also led the defense with nine digs. Junior setter Riley Greenley (Newark, Del.) had the team-high in assists with six while sophomore libero Livy McDonough (West Friendship, Md.) finished with seven digs.
Wheaton opened up the game with a huge 5-1 run out of the gate. The Monks managed a 3-0 run to bring themselves within a point before four straight errors wiped away their effort. Wheaton continued to take advantage of Saint Joseph's errors before Soroa Schaller bounced a kill to make it 14-8. Even the libero Hochberg got in on the fun as she put down a kill to make it 22-16. Three more errors by the Monks ended the first set with a win for Wheaton at 25-17.
The second set saw the Lyons jump ahead to a big lead once again. This time de la Pena did the heavy lifting on offense as she put down two early kills to help the Lyons to a 10-2 lead. The Monks strung three points together to reduce their deficit, but another de la Pena kill sparked a 4-0 run for the visitors. Soroa Schaller notched another pair of kills to drive the Lyons' lead up to 16-8. A pair of service aces from senior
Lillie Zickert (Gurnee, Ill.) drove Wheaton's advantage up to 20-10 before a 4-0 run highlighted by a de la Pena kill put them on set point at 24-12. Each team exchanged attacking errors at the end of the frame as the Lyons claimed victory once again at 25-13.
Soroa Schaller put down another early kill to start the Lyons off well in the third set. Tied at 3-3, it was a kill by the Spaniard that sparked a 5-0 run to give Wheaton an 8-3 lead. Wheaton continued to widen the gap as Soroa Schaller put down her final kill of the night amidst an 8-3 scoring run that put the Lyons ahead at 21-12. The Monks were able to bring themselves a bit closer thanks to several errors by Wheaton, but a service ace by sophomore
Haley Jenkins (Dartmouth, Mass.) put the Lyons on match point. Three straight Wheaton errors kept the door open for the Monks, but a service error ended their comeback hopes early as they ceded the final frame to the Lyons, 25-17.
Wheaton will have two days to rest before they return to conference play with a home match against WPI on Tuesday at 7:00 pm. Saint Joseph's will stay in Maine as they host Colby-Sawyer on Wednesday at 6:00 pm.
