Cambridge, Mass.--- The No. 2 Lesley women's volleyball team defeated No. 3 Becker College, 3-2, to move on to the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Championship Tournament. Becker ended their 2017 run at 13-6, 4-3 in conference action while the Lynx improve to 13-14, 7-1 in the NECC.

Micaela Rice (Charlton, Mass.) led the Hawks in digs with 19 while teammates Sofia Cullina (Deep River, Conn.) and Morgan Gould (North Attleboro, Mass.) added 17 and 13 a piece. Charlene Landry (Gorham, Maine) handed out 21 assists. Gillian Criddle (Earleville, Md.) nabbed eight kills on the night for the Hawks. Freshman Tallin Goldberg (Merrimack, N.H.) handed out 51 assists having her third career game of 50 or more helpers. Senior duo of Anni Abbruzzese (Croton on Hudson, N.Y.) and Kaylee Deluga (Dennis, Mass.) led the Lynx in kills with 23 and 19 apiece.

Lesley was down 24-21 before they scored 5 straight points to take the set one victory, 26-24. Becker fought back and took the set two victory, 25-21, to tie up the match at two apiece. Lesley took set three, 25-20 but Becker was not ready to go home as they forced a set five as they defeated Lesley 25-20 in set four. The Lynx were down 9-6 in the final set of the night but it was the 9-2 run that secured Lesley's trip to the NECC Championship Game.

"Tonight's game was a great match against a really great team. It was a matter of who wanted it more. We have accustome of waiting until the fifth set to bring back our energy. We have worked all season for this" says Deluga.

No. 2 Lesley travel to No.1 Elms College on Sunday November 5, 2017 for a NECC Championship Sunday. Game-time TBD.     

"Elms is a team we have seen before and we're going to own in on bringing that energy that we accumulate in the fifth set and bring it into the first set" says Deluga.