PROVIDENCE, RI – Saint Joseph's (17-14, 5-7 GNAC) fell to top-seeded Johnson & Wales (22-13, 11-1 GNAC), 3-0, in the first round of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Tournament on Tuesday night. Sarah Hawkes '13 (Pownal, ME) produced seven kills and four digs in the Monks' season-ending setback.
Johnson & Wales topped #8 St. Joe's by 25-19, 25-20 and 25-10 scores and belted 13 service aces in the sweep over the Monks. Saint Joseph's battled in the first two sets and looked to do the same early in the third, but the Monks ran out of gas and committed 10 receiving errors in the final set.
The GNAC rivals were tied at 16 apiece mid-way through the first set, but the Wildcats surged to a 9-3 run en route to collecting a 1-0 edge. JWU held off the Royal Blue in the second set, despite a late 11-3 SJC run that made it a 21-20 game. The teams stood at a 4-4 tie early in the final set before Johnson & Wales rattled off an impressive 17-3 run on the way to a match-clinching 25-10 triumph.
For the Monks, Kiah Begley '13 (Berwick, ME/Saint Thomas Aquinas) registered 13 assists and five digs and Caitlin Cleary '13 (Scarborough, ME) added a team-high 11 digs in the losing effort.
Johnson & Wales was led by senior Nikki Balchunas (Brockton, MA) with 11 kills and 12 digs while fellow senior Catherine Bravo (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico) added five kills, 14 set assists and eight digs for the Wildcats. Senior Emma Anderson (Meriden, CT) chipped in with five kills in the victory for JWU.
For the second straight season, St. Joe's showed marked improvement across the board and broke a plethora of team-season records to help prove the point. The 2010 squad set new program season marks for kills (976), kills per set (9.12), attempts (3310), assists (884), assists per set (8.26), digs (1499), and digs per set (14.01). The Monks - with a roster featuring seven freshmen, four sophomores, three juniors and no seniors under first-year Head Coach Yamile Nolan - posted the program's first .500 season since 1997 and earned the team's first-ever GNAC tourney berth.
With the triumph, Johnson & Wales advances to the semifinal round and will host #5 Emmanuel College on Thursday at 7:00 PM.