STANDISH, Maine – Johnson & Wales University (4-6, 1-0 GNAC) topped Saint Joseph's College (4-7, 1-1 GNAC), 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-21), in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) volleyball match at the Harold Alfond Center on Saturday afternoon. Sophomore Victoria Huntley (Ellsworth, Maine) registered eight kills and 11 digs in the losing effort.
The Wildcats opened the afternoon with a 25-14 victory while posting 13 kills with just six errors en route to notching a .219 attack percentage in the first set. Senior outside hitter Alyssa Drapeau (Biddeford, Maine) lifted the visitors to a 12-6 lead midway through the opening set and the cushion stood for the duration, as a bout of back and forth scoring ended when junior setter Kellen Tensen (New Canaan, Conn.) recorded a kill to provide Johnson & Wales with a 1-0 set lead.
The second set proved to be much more competitive with the Monks – trailing by an 8-4 margin early – rallied with four unanswered points, including a pair of kills from Huntley, to knot the set at eight apiece. Neither team held more than a three-point lead for a spell but, with the score tied 13-13, the Wildcats rattled off seven straight points to grab a 20-13 cushion. Saint Joseph's rallied to within two points (23-21) late, but a service ace by senior libero Anne Marie Nowicki (Lancaster, N.Y.) closed out the second stanza and propelled the visitors to a 2-0 lead.
Johnson & Wales held an advantage for the entire third set, but the Monks remained within striking distance as the visitors never enjoyed more than a four-point cushion in the deciding frame. Trailing 23-20 in the late stages, Huntley dealt a service ace to cut the hosts' deficit down to two, but the Wildcats answered with a Lauren Cordts (Amherst, N.H.) kill and benefited from an unforced SJC error to win the set and complete the sweep.
For the Monks, sophomore Shadai Gosselin (Somersworth, N.H.) tallied 10 digs and a pair of aces, junior Abbie McPhee (Epping, N.H.) added 12 assists and nine digs and junior Felicia Wachowiak (Milton, N.H.) added five kills and six block solos in the setback.
Junior outside hitter Paula Cadavid (Pawtucket, R.I.) boasted a double double with 13 kills and 11 digs for the Wildcats while Cordts contributed 10 kills in the JWU victory. Tensen added a double dip of her own with 27 assists and 10 digs and Drapeau notched eight kills with 10 digs on the afternoon.
Saint Joseph's travels to Daniel Webster College on Tuesday for a non-conference match starting at 7:00 PM while Johnson & Wales hosts Clark University in a non-league tilt at 7:00 PM that same evening.
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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 430-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.