CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - After a grueling four games the University of Maine at Farmington defeated Lesley University 15-13 in the fifth game to advance to the NAC women's volleyball semifinals. The Beavers will face defending NAC Champs and the #1 seeded Mount Ida College Mustangs in the semifinals at Mount Ida on Saturday, November 4th.
Lesley University played probably their best game of the year
and had Maine Farmington at match point in the forth game.
Maine Farmington blew a 5 point lead late in the fourth game and
after having three game points in a row suddenly they were facing a
match point at the hands of Lesley. Lesley was unable to
close out the match in the fourth game as Farmington won it 32-30
to force a deciding fifth game.
In the fifth game Farmington once again jumped out to a lead and
pulled ahead by as much as 5. Lesley was facing match point
at 10-14 with Sophomore Kara Carpenter serving. Yet again
Farmington squandered the lead as Lesley went on a tear and came
back to be within one point. Lesley would get as close as
13-14 before Farmington finally got the deciding point.
Lesley was led on offense by its fearsome three, Kim Bennett (Bartlett, N.H.), Gianna Spaziante (Hawthorne, N.Y.) and Lindsey Marek (Killingworth, Conn.). Spaziante had a team high 16 kills followed by Marek's 8 and Bennett's 7. It was Megan Bol (Whitinsville, Mass.) who continued her excellent season as team setter as she had 32 assists.
As good as the offense was it would have been a non-factor if not for the brilliant defensive efforts by Hana Sakamoto (Tokyo, JAPAN), Kara Carpenter (Westfield, Mass.) and Beth Hoilund (Germantown, N.Y.). Hoilund was an absolute force in the front row as she tipped over two dozen attacks from Farmington that led to digs by Lesley. Farmington's powerful hitters had limited struggled at times as Carpenter and Sakamoto were all over the court diving on what seemed like every other play.
Farmington big hitters Becky Hall (Goffstown, N.H.), Jenna Rowan (Kittery, Me.), and Danielle O'Brien (Calais, Me.) led the offensive charge for the Beavers. It was Jenna St. Pierre (Peru, Me.) who was the catalyst of the offense and had a match high 39 assists feeding the hard hitting combo of Hall, Rowan and O'Brien.
Natalie Angers (Biddeford, Me.) and libero Caitlin Flaherty led the Beavers with 16 and 13 digs respectively.
Both teams fought extremely hard and both teams battled back from what at times seemed like insurmountable deficits. In the end though it was the University of Maine at Farmington that was able to get the most important points in the fifth set and they were able to hold off Lesley University in an extremely thrilling quarterfinal match.
To learn more about the Lesley University women's volleyball team, please visit their website.