BOSTON -- Emerson College won a battle of two 1-1 teams, hitting .329 in knocking off the visiting Lynx in three sets (25-11, 25-18, 25-12) Wednesday night in non-conference women's volleyball play at Brown-Plofker Gym.
Newly converted outside hitter Kaitlyn Miller led the Lynx with five kills, adding four digs on the defensive end. Freshman Donna Niosi and sophomore Danielle Johnson tied for team-high honors with five digs, with Niosi handing out a team-best 12 assists.
The Lynx had no answer for Emerson hitter Kat Rice, who paced all players with 16 kills on 20 attempts for a surreal .700 hitting percentage, leading the Lions attack that hit .500 as a team in the opening set and .474 in the closing set.
Rice's first kill followed by three Alex Lynn service aces sparked a 9-0 run that put the Lions out in front 9-1 to start the evening. A Miller kill on a Niosi pass pulled the Lynx to within 15-7, but a 6-1 run featuring two Lynn kills sent Emerson on to a 25-11 win.
The second set looked more promising, as Lesley used a pair of Johnson service aces surrounded by five Lions errors to jump out to a 7-2 lead to start the frame. Lesley returned the favors with consecutive ball handling errors that brought the Lions to within 8-7, and a Johnson attack error gave Emerson its first lead, 10-9.
With the set tied at 11-11, Rice put down back-to-back kills on passes from setter Juliana Tucker, and those would give Emerson the lead for good as the Lions doubled up on the Lynx 14-7 the remainder of the way for a 25-18 win.
Lesley opened the third with kills from Niosi and Alyson Finbow preceding a Megan Ortwein service ace that put the Lynx on top 4-3. Consecutive Rice kills swung the lead in the Lions favor, again for good. Emerson expanded its lead to 8-5 on another Rice spike, and the home team upped its advantage to 16-8 after a 5-0 run capped by an Alyssa Thorne kill in its 25-12 victory.
Tucker led the Emerson (2-1) offense with a match-high 32 set assists.
At 1-1, Lesley returns to the hardwood tomorrow night at WPI at 7 p.m. In-match stats and live video are streaming live at no cost.