CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Sophomore Danielle McDonald (Lilitz, Pa.) registered a team-high nine kills to go with her 12 digs to lead the Lynx to a 3-1 (15-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-17) win over visiting Elms College tonight in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action at Buckingham, Browne, and Nichols. The win brings Lesley to 5-8 on the year and an even 1-1 in conference play while the Blazers fall to 4-12 and 0-2 in NECC play.
Junior Danielle Johnson (Waterford, Conn.) finished with eight kills and 13 digs to go with her team-high 20 assists while senior Katrina Stroganoff (Cedar Grove, N.J.) registered a team-high 18 digs and seven kills. Freshman Julia Carew (Salem, N.H.) set career-highs with 11 digs and two aces for the Lynx.
Junior JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) paced the Blazers attack with a match-high 15 kills while hitting .355 from the floor. Pickett also was credited with 15 digs. Junior libero Caitlyn Larvey (Greenfield, Mass.) led the match with 25 digs while sophomore Alexandra Mack (Wilbraham, Mass.) posted a double-double for Elms with ten kills and ten digs.
With the score tied 8-8 in the opening set, the Blazers opened things up with an 11-2 run to give them a commanding 19-10 advantage. Mack fueled the attack, knocking down five kills as the visitors rolled to a 25-15 first set victory.
The Lynx rode the serve of Julia Carew to open up the second set with a 6-0 momentum-building run capped by a slam from junior Anthea Rathjens (Sudbury, Mass.). Elms would kill that momentum, scoring six of the next eight points to cut the Lesley lead to two, 8-6. Later in the set, the Lynx were able to gain some distance by scoring three straight, once again capped by a Rathjens kill, to take a 20-15 advantage. Elms continued to battle, scoring seven of the next nine points to even things up at 22-22. The Lynx hung on, however, thanks to back-to-back kills from McDonald and Stroganoff before ending the set on an Elms miscue, taking the second set 25-22.
The third set was just as tight as neither team could pull away. Lesley held a 21-18 edge before two Elms errors gave them a comfortable five point lead, 23-18, but two consecutive kills from Mack and one from sophomore Joanna Krupa (Chicopee, Mass.) quickly cut the Lynx lead to 23-21. Elms did not go quietly, taking advantage of another Mack kill and Lesley service error to climb to within once, but it was too little too late as the Lynx closed out the set 25-23 on an Elms error.
The fourth and deciding set was all Lesley as they received kills from five different players including four from freshman Vanessa Smith (Somersworth, N.H.) and three from Johnson as the Lynx pulled away to a 25-17 win.
While Elms held the advantage in kills (45-34) and digs (70-67), Lesley held the advantage in hitting percentage as they hit .114 from the floor, their second highest mark of the season, while Elms only mustered a -.079 percentage.
Both teams will be back in NECC action on Saturday, October 5th as the Lynx will travel to Mitchell College for a 12:00p start while the Blazers will play host to Becker College at 11:00a.