NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Saint Joseph's College (5-10, 2-2 GNAC) split a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) tri-match at Albertus Magnus College on Saturday. The Monks opened with a five-set loss (20-25, 13-25, 25-15, 15-16, 11-15) but salvaged the split with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-8, 25-11) victory over the Falcons in the nightcap match.
Suffolk def. Saint Joseph's, 3-2:
The Monks were sluggish in the first two sets versus the Rams, but managed to knot the match at 2-2 with convincing third and fourth set victories. Saint Joseph's held a 9-3 lead in the deciding set, but could not hold on and would suffer the team's second five-set loss of the week.
Junior Felicia Wachowiak (Milton, N.H.) led the Monks, both offensively and defensively, with 14 kills (along with a stellar .364 attack percentage) and seven total blocks, including five solos. The third-year starter entered the match with 144 solos and, with her third rejection of the contest, surpassed former teammate Sarah Hawkes '13, who tallied 146 during her career. Wachowiak ended the day with 155 block solos.
Sophomore Victoria Huntley (Ellsworth, Maine) posted an equally-impressive effort on the offensive end with 14 kills and a otherworldly .542 attack rate to go with eight digs while freshman Jordynne Copp (Cumberland, Maine) added nine kills and seven total blocks (four solo) in the losing effort. Junior setter Abbie McPhee (Epping, N.H.) boasted a career-high 40 assists along with seven digs while junior Allie Hollander (Thermal, Calif.) contributed three kills, five assists, 16 digs and two block assists versus the Rams.
With the loss, Saint Joseph's falls to 8-3 against Suffolk since the 1989 campaign and falls to the Rams for the first time since 2008.
Saint Joseph's def. Albertus Magnus, 3-0:
The Monks had little time to wallow in their misery following the tough loss as the Royal Blue were forced to face Albertus Magnus shortly after the Suffolk setback. The first set was close (25-20) but St. Joe's managed to make quick work of the host-Falcons with convincing 25-8 and 25-11 set wins en route to the shutout triumph.
Wachowiak was dominant again with nine kills, a .316 attack percentage and eight total blocks (six solo) while Huntley capped a successful day with seven kills and a .357 success rate. Copp added seven kills to go along with a .500 attack percentage and a pair of block solos while McPhee tallied 20 assists, five service aces and four digs in the closing contest.
Saint Joseph's, which snapped a five-match losing streak with the victory, registered a .290 team attack rate versus Albertus, the Monks' best since notching a .312 mark in a win over Husson University on September 6th.
With the victory, Saint Joseph's is now 8-1 versus Albertus Magnus since the 1989 season and has defeated the Falcons in seven-consecutive meetings dating back to the 2008 season. All seven wins during the streak have been of the shutout variety.
Saint Joseph's plays at Rhode Island College on Friday at 6:00 PM.
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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.
