NORTON, Mass. - The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's volleyball team leaned on 14 digs from senior libero
Jackie Hochberg (Tampa, Fla.) as the Lyons fell to University of Massachusetts Boston three sets to none (17-25, 29-31, 22-25) in Emerson Gymnasium on Wednesday evening.
Wheaton fell to 3-5 overall with the loss, while the Beacons improved to 7-2 with the win.
Hochberg finished with a match-high 14 digs, while sophomore
Molly Gleason (Marston Mills, Mass.) was right behind her with nine. Wheaton rotated three players in and out of the setter position, allowing junior
Elena Timo (Bourne, Mass.) to take home a team-high 11 assists. Senior
Mary Caroline Mazzanti (New Orleans, La.) led the offense with 10 kills on .364 hitting, while first year
Maddy Botelho (Swansea, Mass.) finished with five.
Senior Paige Coulson (Marriotsville, Md.) led the Beacons' offense with eight kills on .368 hitting as she narrowly missed out on a double-double with 10 digs. First year libero Ashlee Wudi (Brookfield, Ill.) had 11 digs, besting her teammate by a single pass. Junior Audrey Cofield (Ypsilanti, Minn.) finished with the game-high in assists with 23.
Wheaton started the game with back-to-back errors. Coulson recorded her first point of the game to put the Beacons ahead 3-0, and the Lyons quickly found themselves down 6-1 after a trio of points for UMass. The Lyons found the floor with a kill before Hochberg stepped up to the service line and delivered three straight service aces. Trailing 6-5, the Lyons had an early chance to flip the script, but two more kills for UMass and an attacking error for Wheaton set them back once again. Wheaton was unable to gain any ground as the Beacons held them at bay with an 8-5 scoring run to put them up 17-10. Both teams exchanged errors up to a 21-16 scoreline before Wheaton bowed out of the frame with three straight errors as they lost 25-17.
Mazzanti turned on the afterburners in the second set as each side stayed even with the other. Her five kills helped the Lyons stay even with the Beacons, and both teams arrived at 12 points simultaneously. Wheaton continued to make errors, but Mazzanti notched two more kills as the Lyons continued to stay even with the Beacons. Coulson recorded only one kill as the Lyons continued to lurk around her side, and a kill by
Haley Jenkins (Dartmouth, Mass.) tied the game again at 23-23. Neither team was able to pull away from the other as each continued to errantly attack the ball. Botelho and
Katie de La Pena (Little Rock, Colo.) combined for a block to tie it up again at 29-29, but two errors by Wheaton ended the comeback hopes with a 31-29 set loss.
De la Pena and Mazzanti each recorded kills to keep Wheaton close to UMass at the start of the third set, but Coulson exploded for three kills across a 12-7 scoring run littered with errors to put the Beacons ahead 17-10. Coulson continued her hot streak with a service ace and two more kills as UMass outscored Wheaton 12-9 down the stretch to take the third and final set 25-22.
Wheaton will head up to Gordon College for a weekend invitational tournament. The Lyons will take on St. Lawrence on Friday at 4:30 pm. UMass Boston will take on Bowdoin at the Trinity Tri-Match on Saturday at 2:00 pm.
