NEW LONDON, Conn. – Lesley University junior Danielle Johnson (Waterford, Conn.) paced the Lynx attack with a team-high 8 kills and five service aces to go with her 18 assists to lead the Lynx to a 3-1 (25-19, 16-25, 25-20, 25-12) victory over Mitchell College in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's volleyball action this afternoon in New London, Conn. The win was the second straight conference victory for Lesley after defeating Elms College earlier this week and improves to 6-8 on the year and 2-1 in NECC play. The Mariners drop to 4-9 overall and are now an even 1-1 in conference action.
Senior Katrina Stroganoff (Cedar Grove, N.J.) connected for seven kills for the visitors while sophomore libero Katey Carew (Salem, N.H.) dug out a match-high 14 balls. Sophomore Danielle McDonald (Lilitz, Pa.) chipped in with five kills and 12 digs in the winning effort for the Lynx.
Senior Gloria Charles (New Haven, Conn.) posted a double-double with a match-high 11 kills and 11 digs while sophomore Amanda Garcia (New Britain, Conn.) finished with seven kills for the Mariners. Freshman Amanda Rowan (Sandy Hook, Conn.) also posted seven kills while sophomore Nicole Caminiti (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) led all players dishing out 26 assists.
The Lynx never trailed in the opening set, jumping out to a 5-0 lead behind the serve of freshman Julia Carew (Salem, N.H.). Lesley pushed their lead to 20-12, their biggest lead of the set, while on a 5-0 run thanks to three Mitchell errors and two Johnson kills. The Mariners did not go down quietly, scoring seven of the final 12 points in the set, before a kill by Lesley junior Anthea Rathjens (Sudbury, Mass.) closed things out for the Lynx, giving the visitors a 25-19 set win.
Rathjens opened the scoring in the second set, blocking a Mariners attack, setting the Lynx up to score the first three points on the set. The Mariners then went on to score seven of the next eight points to go ahead 7-4. Mitchell would not trail again in the set rolling to a 25-16 set win to even the match at 1-1. Charles and senior Barbara Fontes (Stratford, Conn.) each had three kills for the Mariners while Garcia connected for two of her seven in the set.
The two teams battled through a back-and-forth third set before the Lynx went on a 4-0 run due in part to consecutive Stroganoff aces to give the visitors an 18-14 lead. Lesley would maintain at least a four point advantage the rest of the way, closing out the third set 25-20.
The third set was all Lesley as they received kills from five different players, including three from Johnson, rolling to a 25-12 win to clinch the match.
Lesley, winners of four of their last six matches, returns to action on Monday, October 7th when they travel to Framingham State University in a non-conference tilt starting at 6:00p. Mitchell is back at it on Wednesday, October 9th when they host NECC foe Newbury College at 6:00p.