STANDISH, ME – Saint Joseph's (17-11, 5-5 GNAC) blanked Southern Maine (6-22, 0-6 LEC), 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-10), in a non-conference volleyball match at the Harold Alfond Center on Thursday night. Kiah Begley '13 (Berwick, ME/Saint Thomas Aquinas) notched 29 assists, 12 digs and six service aces in the triumph.
The Monks jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first set, thanks to four Begley aces and a pair of kills by Sarah Coffey '14 (Hanover, MA), and seldom trailed in the three-set sweep. The Huskies' largest lead came early in the second set, when the rivals held a 5-2 advantage. St. Joe's negated the USM advantage with a 10-1 run and did not fall behind again for the remainder of the evening.
Coffey contributed with 11 kills and 14 digs and posted an outstanding .556 attack percentage with one miscue in 18 attempts. Brooke Dyer '14 (Lebanon, ME/Saint Thomas Aquinas) added 10 kills and eight digs and Sarah Hawkes '13 (Pownal, ME) belted 11 kills in the SJC victory.
Caitlin Cleary '13 (Scarborough, ME) chipped in with eight digs for St. Joe's and teammate Erica Russi '14 (Debary, FL) enjoyed a solid match with four kills and five digs.
For USM, Shannon Shuttle '11 (New Ipswich, NH) had three kills and six digs Danielle Netland '11(Cumberland, ME) had 10 assists and five digs in the losing effort.
St. Joe's held advantages in kills (42-12), assists (38-11), aces (10-3), digs (53-31) and attack percentage (.307-(-).037) in the one-sided contest. The Monks' 38 assists ties a program record for three-set-match assists, equaling the mark reached against Lyndon State on September 9th, 2006.
The .307 attack percentage is far and away the best mark by the Monks this season and the Royal Blue also notched three-set team-highs for the season in kills and assists. Additionally, Coffey's 14 digs is the most by an SJC player in three sets this year.
Saint Joseph's will close out the regular season with a GNAC tri-match at Rivier College on Saturday. The Monks will face off against the Raiders (18-10, 9-1 GNAC) at 11:00 AM and Mount Ida College (20-6, 7-3 GNAC) at 1:00 PM.
Southern Maine will play at Eastern Connecticut in a Little East Conference match on Saturday at 1:00 PM.