Wheaton College (MA)

WENHAM, Mass. - The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's volleyball team pushed Gordon College to the brink in the final set, but the Scots ultimately triumphed over the Lyons with a 3-0 sweep (22-25, 20-25, 28-30) to conclude play in the Gordon Invitational on Saturday evening.

Wheaton fell to 4-7 with the loss while the Scots improved to 7-5 after the win. 

Junior middle hitter Katie de la Pena (Little Rock, Colo.) led the way for the Lyons with eight kills on .313 hitting and two service aces. Senior Mary Caroline Mazzanti (New Orleans, La.) was hot on her teammate's heels with seven kills while first year Maddy Botelho (Swansea, Mass.) finished with six kills. Senior setter Ajsa Orbán (Budapest, Hungary) finished with 13 assists to lead the Lyons and added four service aces from the back line. Senior Jackie Hochberg (Tampa, Fla.) matched her season-high with 22 digs, equalling her total from Saturday's prior match. 

Seniors Teagan Brideweser (Warwick, N.Y.) and Annie Zimmerman (Austin, Texas) both finished with 12 kills for the Scots. The former added 2.5 blocks and hit an eye-watering .526 in the contest for the team lead in points (14.5). Sophomore setter Vivian Castano (Yarmouth Port, Mass.) had the game-high in assists with 35 and took home 11 digs for a double-double.     Junior Haley Hutzler (Long Island, N.Y.) led her side with 15 digs and had nine kills to narrowly miss a double-double. 

Wheaton started the match with strength. Botelho and Mazzanti both bounced kills down before de la Pena added a pair of her own. Zimmerman was held to only two, and the Lyons took advantage of several Gordon errors to push ahead 10-5. Brideweser began to wake up from there, and added a pair of kills while the Lyons maintained their lead at 15-10. Four Wheaton errors left the door open for Gordon, and the Scots waltzed on through without having to be asked twice. Brideweser gave her side the lead with a kill to make it 17-16 for the hosts, but Botelho answered back with a kill to tie it up again. Castiano added a kill to put the Scots in control of the score, and three errors by the Lyons drove the hosts' advantage to 24-21. De la Pena kept things close with a kill, but Hutzler sent a kill right back to Wheaton to finish off the Lyons, 25-22, in the first set. 

Hutzler stayed hot in the second set as she put down two kills amidst the Scots' opening 4-0 run. De la Pena stopped the bleeding temporarily with a kill, but a Brideweser kill following another stretch of errors put Gordon in front 10-6. Wheaton again found themselves floundering as the Scots piled kills on the Lyons. Brideweser, Zimmerman and Hutzler all found the floor as the Scots drove their lead up to 18-10. Wheaton stitched together a 10-6 scoring run thanks to a kill from Mazzanti, but still they trailed 23-20. A Zimmerman kill and Mazzanti hitting error finished off the comeback before it truly materialized, and the Lyons fell in the second set 25-20. 

Neither team was able to pull away from each other as the third set started. Mazzanti and de la Pena both bounced two more kills while Zimmerman added three for Gordon to keep the set square all the way up to a 16-16 tie. The Scots relied heavily on their dynamic duo to keep pace with the Lyons as both teams stayed even. Zimmerman added three more kills while Brideweser knocked in four to keep the set tied at 25-25. Gordon took the first step forward with a kill, but missed the serve on match point to keep the Lyons' hopes alive. Wheaton repeated that exact sequence to drive the score to 27-27. Hutzler put her team ahead with a kill, but the Scots failed to close the door as de la Pena added her eighth kill of the night. Zimmerman again gave her side the advantage, and this time they capitalized on it as Brideweser and Zimmerman combined for a block to deny the Lyons any further hopes of a comeback. Wheaton dropped the final set 30-28. 

Gordon will hit the road for their next match as they kick off their conference season at Curry College on Wednesday at 6:00 pm. Wheaton will do the same as they head to Babson College for a Tuesday night NEWMAC matchup at 7:00 pm.