BENNINGTON, Vt. – The Lesley University women's volleyball team defeated Southern Vermont College in five sets, 3-2, in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action, Saturday evening. Senior outside hitter Anni Abbruzzese (Croton on Hudson, N.Y.) posted a .361 attack percentage with 15 kills while recording a double-double with 11 defensive digs.
Hitting .286 as a team, the Lynx grabbed the first set edging out the Mountaineers, 25-22 but the match was just getting started. The Mountaineers rebounded claiming victory in the second and third sets to pull ahead, 2-1. But Lesley was not going to back down and evened up the match with a 27-25 win in set four.
The Lynx offense was rejuvenated following a fourth set where they hit .361 attack percentage with 17 kills on 36 attempts. They carried-forth this momentum into the fifth set where their .429 attack percentage with 10 kills on 21 attempts was too much for the Mountaineers as they claimed their eighth victory of the season and keep pace atop the NECC improving to 5-1.
Junior outside hitter Sarah Hollis (Hudson, Mass.) led the Lynx hitting .471 with 10 kills on 17 attempts and just two errors while falling two digs shy of double-double, tallying eight. Fellow junior, setter Allie Charron (Barnstable, Mass.) paced the Lynx offense with 42 set assists while senior outside hitter Jess Reynolds (Londonderry, N.H.) surpassed her career single-game best tallying 33 defensive digs.
Lesley staked a 12-6 lead in the opening set, four of those points coming on service aces with three straight being off the hand of Kaylee Deluga (Dennis, Mass.). Southern Vermont used a timeout and came out of it with momentum, going on a 9-1 run to take a two-point upper hand; Goldman was stellar from behind the line in that stretch, ripping across five-straight aces as she picked on the back-right corner of the court. A pair of Bench service aces put Southern Vermont ahead 19-14, only to see Lesley come back with seven unanswered with the help of two Abbruzzese kills. Southern Vermont was able to tie it at 21-21, but Lesley won the next three before putting it away with a Mountaineer service error.
A pair of kills by both Hollis and Abbruzzese helped put the Lynx up 8-6 in the early portion of the second frame, only to see the Mountaineers score six-unanswered points behind a pair of Bench aces. SVC would take five-of-six soon after to go up 20-13-- Goldman, Phillips and Billow each landing a kill during that stretch. A Southern Vermont timeout couldn't stop Lesley from notching five straight to get back within two, but a Goldman kill and Bench service ace helped the Mountaineers close out the set and tie the match at 1-1.
Southern Vermont won the first four points of the third and never trailed the rest of the game. Lesley was able to tie it at 6-6, only to see Southern Vermont win the next six for a 12-6 lead; Phillips knocked across three aces in that spurt while Oropeza put down a pair of kills. Hollis landed two kills of her own to help Lesley get back within four (16-14), but the visitors could only muster three points the rest of the way as the Mountaineers continued their success from behind the line to win it 25-17.
Southern Vermont carried its momentum into the fourth, going on top 9-3 as Billow served for six-straight points with a pair of aces. The next five Lesley points came via kills, Reynolds notching a pair while three other Lynx added one apiece. Southern Vermont took four out of five to go up 18-11, Goldman registering two kills in that stretch while Billow had one of her own. Lesley turned the tables at that point, however, and clawed back to extend the match. Lesley took to an 11-1 run that forced two Mountaineer timeouts, getting four aces to hit the floor as the visitors went up by three. The teams traded points back-and-forth as the frame went to extra serves, but an Southern Vermont miscue and ensuing Deluga kill put it away for LU to force the decisive fifth set.
Lesley controlled the onset of the final frame, going up 5-1 with two kills by both Deluga and Abbruzzese. Southern Vermont came back with four straight to tie it, Bench landing a pair of aces as Phillips added a kill. Lesley took four of the next five, however-- Abbruzzese having three kills in that spurt while Hollis tallied the fourth. A Billow kill and Lynx mishap got the Mountaineers back within two (11-9), but Lesley closed out the night with the next four-straight points behind a pair of Deluga kills for the win.
Lesley improves to 8-12 and 5-1 in the conference while Southern Vermont falls to 5-19 and 0-7 in NECC action. The Lynx return to the hard-court on Monday October 24th when they host Dean College at 8:00 p.m.