CAMBRIDGE, Mass.- The Lesley University women's volleyball team received their first New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) loss of the season to Elms College as they celebrated the class of 2018. The Lynx fall to 12-14, 6-1 in the NECC while the Blazers improve to 17-9, 7-0 in conference play.

Dakota Stewart (Victoria, Texas) led the match in assists with 18 for the Blazers, while Lynx freshman Tallin Goldberg (Merrimack, N.H.) dished out 14 of her own. Senior Kaylee Deluga (Dennis, Mass.) recorded a match high 12 kills for Lesley, but it was the combination of Hayley Castanos (Santa Ana, Calif.), Rachel Magnuson (Miller Place, n.y.) and Ayanna Meadows (Springfield, Mass) that powered Elms to the victory.  Stewart also collected 11 digs on the night while Cassidy Wygonik (Madison, Conn.) led the Lynx with eight.

Elms took the match in three sets; 25-13, 15-17, 25-18. The Blazers took an early 10-4 lead in set one before forcing a Lynx timeout. Elms would go on a 5-1 run leading to another Lesley timeout.  The quick regroup couldn't change the momentum and Elms finished off strong to take a 25-13 victory of Lesley.

The Lynx tied up the second set at four a piece before the Blazers went on a 5-0 run and never looked back.  Receiving errors were the downfall in set two as the Blazers would once again go on 5-0 run later that set to secure the victory. Lesley took the early 7-5 lead in set three to force an Elms timeout. The Lynx showed promise tying the set at 11, but Elms prevailed and took off with the victory leading to Lesley's first conference loss.

"I thought we fought hard but came up short. We're going to take what we did wrong from today's game to practice on Monday to prepare us for playoffs," concluded freshman Tallin Goldberg. 

The Lynx will play in the first round of the NECC playoff tournament on Friday November 3, 2017. Opponent is to be determined.