NORTON, Mass. -- Senior libero
Jackie Hochberg (Tampa, Fla.) finished with a game-high 15 digs but her defensive effort was not enough to lift the Wheaton College (Mass.) women's volleyball team as they fell 3-0 (22-25, 17-25, 16-25) to the number 9 ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Tuesday evening's New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference contest.
Wheaton fell to 4-10 overall and 0-3 in the NEWMAC after the loss, while MIT improved to 10-1 overall and 2-0 in the NEWMAC after the win.
Hochberg held down the defense with her 15 digs while first year
Maddy Botelho (Swansea, Mass.) powered the offense with a team-leading seven kills. Junior middle
Katie de la Pena (Little Rock, Colo.) had five kills while senior setter
Ajsa Orbán (Budapest, Hungary) had three kills and a team-leading nine assists.
First year Sabine Smith (Park City, Utah) led her team with a double-double of 10 kills and 10 digs. Junior Jennifer Cen (Orlando, Fla.) was the most efficient hitter for the Engineers as she finished with eight kills on .457 hitting. Senior setter Kayleigh May (Camarillo, Calif.) had the game-high in assists with 28 while junior libero Sophia Song (Plano, Texas) led her team defensively with 14 digs.
Cen opened the match with two straight kills, but Botelho answered back with two of her own. Four Wheaton errors and four kills for the Engineers followed and the visitors quickly put themselves ahead 9-3. Six MIT errors kept the door open for Wheaton, which Botelho tried to exploit with another early kill. Her effort helped the Lyons draw within two points of the Engineers at 13-11. They continued to push and eventually came within a single point at 16-15, but a 4-1 run from the Engineers widened the gap. Senior pin hitter
Mary Caroline Mazzanti (New Orleans, La.) had two kills down the stretch to keep the Lyons within reach, but they fell short in the end as the Engineers took the first set 25-22.
It was a tale of two teams at the start of the second set as the Engineers pounded out a 7-0 lead to open the frame. Despite the hefty deficit, the Lyons snapped an 8-0 run to completely flip the script and grant them the lead. Hochberg had a service ace while de la Pena knocked home three kills and Botelho bounced two to give their side their first lead of the contest. De la Pena stayed hot with another pair of kills, but the Lyons were unable to clean up the errors around her as they fell behind 12-11. A 9-2 scoring run for the Engineers put them in definite control of the set. Botelho had one more kill late in the frame but it was far from enough to put her team in contention as they dropped the second set 25-17.
MIT started the third set with another large lead. Cen and May both found the floor early in the frame to put their side in front 6-3. They followed up their opening flurry with a 7-2 run before first year
Isabella Moore (Ashburn, Va.) snapped two kills in a row to temporarily stop the bleeding. Each side held pace with the other before Smith turned on the jets with two massive kills to see her side eclipse 20 points. Trailing 21-15, the Lyons had a steep hill to climb. The Engineers made sure that climb was over before it ever started as Smith picked up another kill to reach match point. The Engineers missed their subsequent serve, but ended the match on the point afterwards to take a 25-15 set win and secure the sweep.
The Lyons will play at Smith College on Saturday as they take on the hosts at 1:00 pm. MIT will face off with Bowdoin for a Friday night feature in Cambridge at 7:00 pm.
