CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Lesley University freshman Anni Abbruzzese (Croton on Hudson, N.Y.) registered a match-high 12 kills to go with her five digs to propel the Lynx to their first win of the 2014 season with a 3-0 triumph over Pine Manor College tonight at Buckingham, Browne, and Nichols. With the win, the Lynx move to an even 1-1 while the Gators fall to 0-6.
Fellow freshman Ciara Bruning (Centerville, Mass.) helped out the Lesley offense with seven kills of her own while swinging to an impressive .583 clip on the night. Junior Emily Marden (Fremont, Calif.) dished out a career-best 25 assists while junior Jessie Reynolds (Londonderry, N.H.) and senior Danielle Johnson (Waterford, Conn.) each finished with four kills.
Pine Manor College junior Destiny Mann (Orlando, Fla.) led the Gator attack with four kills while Mary Owen (Houston, Texas) and Rachel Julien (Brockton, Mass.) had two apiece. Freshman Ashley Whiteshield (Seward, Alaska) led the guests with seven digs and nine assists.
The Lynx rode the serve of junior Melisa Randall (Fremont, Calif.) to seal the opening set 25-12. Randall finished with six aces in the first set while Abbruzzese finished with five kills.
Lesley jumped out to an 11-5 lead to start the second set but Pine Manor quickly pulled to within three with a 3-0 run capped by an Owen's ace. The Lynx would respond, however, scoring nine of the next 11 points to jump out to a 20-11 advantage before closing out the set 25-16.
The teams continually exchanged points to start the third set, but Lesley finally opened things up with a 10-0 run, mostly behind the strong serving of Marden, to take a commanding 20-9 edge before rolling to the 25-10 win for the match.
The Lynx will be back in action when they travel to Salem State on Thursday, September 11th. First serve is scheduled for 7:00p. The Gators will return to the court on Saturday, September 13th when they will play a pair of matches on the road at Massachusett's Maritime.