STANDISH, ME – Saint Joseph's College (3-1) split a pair of matches on the opening night of the 2013 SJC Autumn Invitational Tournament at the Harold Alfond Center on Friday. The Monks opened play with a hard-fought 3-2 loss at the hands of Bates College (2-0) before closing out the evening with a 3-0 triumph over Husson University (2-4).
Other action in the tournament, which features adjacent courts playing simultaneously, saw Lyndon State College (1-4) drop a pair of matches to Husson and Bates, the reigning tournament champion, by 3-1 and 3-0 scores, respectively.
Bates def. Saint Joseph's, 3-2 (26-28, 25-19, 25-18, 21-25, 16-14)
The Bobcats and Monks proved to be evenly matched as the in-state rivals dueled until the very end with Bates earning the 3-2 triumph. In the opening set, Saint Joseph's surged late with the help of three Shadai Gosselin (Somersworth, N.H.) service aces and, with the score tied at 26-all, took the lead on an attack error and claimed a 1-0 match lead when sophomore Abbie McPhee (Epping, N.H.) delivered an ace to close out the 28-26 victory.
The Monks had little time to savor the exciting first-set win – achieved despite a negative-.108 attack percentage – as the Bobcats countered with 25-19 and 25-18 set victories to put the tournament host on the ropes. With the help of late kills from Victoria Huntley (Ellsworth, Maine) and Felicia Wachowiak (Milton, N.H.), St. Joe's responded to the challenge, registering a 25-21 win to force a deciding fifth set.
But the match would end in a bitter fashion for the Monks, who held a 12-3 cushion after senior captain Erica Russi (Debary, Fla.) belted a service ace in what seemed destined to be a decisive fifth-set win. Saint Joseph's would score just two points and surrendered six points off attack errors en route to suffering a stunning 16-14 loss.
For the Monks, Wachowiak tallied a match-high 13 kills with six solo blocks, Gosselin added eight kills, four aces and 19 digs, Holly Bannister (Cumberland, Maine) produced seven kills and three solo rejections, and Mariah Hebert (Biddeford, Maine) added 31 assists, three aces and 13 digs in a losing effort.
For the Bobcats, Chandler McGrath (Seal Beach, Calif.) posted 12 kills, Gabby O'Leary (Wynewood, Pa.) notched nine kills and 11 digs, Brynn Wendel (Boxford, Mass.) added nine kills. Laryssa Schepel (Flemington, N.J.) accumulated 35 digs and eight assists and Miranda Shapiro (New York, N.Y.) added 22 assists for the victors.
Saint Joseph's def. Husson, 3-0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-14)
The Monks proved their mettle almost immediately following the heartbreaking defeat as the young team showed some mental toughness with three dominant victories over Husson.
Errors proved costly for the Eagles in the nightcap, as Husson registered 13 kills against 15 miscues for a negative-.027 hitting rate in the shutout loss. The Monks countered with a solid .234 percentage at the net, notching 29 kills with only 11 errors to improve to 3-1 on the year.
Wachowiak enjoyed an outstanding match with 11 kills and a .562 hitting rate and Huntley contributed seven kills in 11 attempts for a .545 average. Hebert assisted on nearly every SJC kill, tallying 25 assists along with five digs, while Russi registered seven digs and four aces and Bannister put up five kills. Gosselin continued to show her versatility by posting a team-high eight digs to go with a pair of kills in the triumph.
Casey Lopes (New Bedford, Mass.) paced the Eagles with five kills to go with eight digs, Ryan Hood (Princeton, Maine) tallied nine assists and four digs and Lindsay Chapman (Gorham, Maine) chipped in with nine digs in the setback.
In other SJC Autumn Invitational action, Husson defeated Lyndon State 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 10-25, 25-16) and Bates topped Lyndon, 3-0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-16). Chapman recorded 15 kills and 25 digs and Lopes tallied nine kills and 19 digs to help the Eagles open with a victory over the Hornets, who received a double-double (11 kills, 10 digs) effort from Morgan Diltz (Moultonborough, N.H.) in the loss.
Tourney play resumes Saturday morning at 10:00 AM when Saint Joseph's faces off against Lyndon State and Bates takes on Husson. At 12:00 PM, the two top-seeded teams will play in the championship game while the remaining clubs meet in the consolation game.
