CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Lesley dropped a 3-0 loss to visiting Salem State Tuesday night in non-conference women's volleyball action at the Nicholas Athletics Center, falling in three sets, 25-22, 25-23, 25-17.
Salem's Jazmin Santos (Lawrence, MA/Central Catholic) led all players with 14 kills on 32 attempts, and Emily Peay (Lebanon, CT/Lyman) added 11 kills with only one error on 22 swings for a match-best .455 hitting percentage.
For the Lynx, Megan Ortwein (Easton, PA/Shanghai American) led the way with seven kills to go along with nine digs, and freshman Danielle McDonald (Lilitz, PA/Manheim) paced the defense with a match-best 17 digs. Freshman Donna Niosi (Quincy, MA/Quincy) handed out 18 set assists as the Lynx fell to 2-4.
A tight opening set saw the Vikings open up a pair of three-point leads while fending off the pesky Lynx, which tied the game at 18-18 after a Santos error. Salem answered with a Santos kill, and a pair of Lynx errors forced a Tricia Lawler timeout trailing 21-18. Out of the timeout, a Peay kill extended the lead to 24-21, and the Vikings held on for the 25-22 win.
Salem broke the second set open with a 10-0 run with Angelica Gonzalez (Lawrence, MA/Lawrence Tech) at serve, taking a 10-3 lead that would ultimately be too much for the Lynx to overcome. An Ortwein kill followed by one of her match-high three service aces forced a Bruno Tramontozzi timeout with Lesley back to within 18-12, and another Ortwein ace and a Vikings error made the score 18-15.
A MacKenzie Carpenter (Peabody, MA/Veterans Memorial) error tied the set at 21-21, and after another Vikings timeout, Lesley took its first lead since going ahead 3-0 with a Kaitlyn Miller (Leesport, PA/Schuylkill) kill that put the Lynx on top 22-21. With the set tied at 23-23, a Nicole Roscoe (Lowell, MA/Lowell) kill broke the tie in the Vikings favor, and an Ortwein attack error closed out Salem's 25-23 victory.
Two Peay kills opened up a 6-1 lead in Game 3, but a kill and an ace from Miller helped pull the Lynx back to within 10-9. Salem then broke the set open with kills from four different Vikings during an 8-1 run that made it an 18-10 contest, and Santos' 14th kill of the night closed out Salem's 25-17 win.
For the Vikings, now 1-6, Carpenter handed out 23 assists to go along with 12 digs.
Lesley returns to the court on Thursday night at 8:00 at St. Joseph's of Maine.