STANDISH, Maine – Saint Joseph's College (5-0, 2-0 GNAC) swept a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) tri-match with 3-0 victories over Norwich University (1-4, 0-2 GNAC) and Suffolk University (2-3, 1-1 GNAC) at the Harold Alfond Center on Saturday afternoon. Senior middle blocker Felicia Wachowiak (Milton, N.H.) tallied 25 kills in the two victories and became the second player in program history to reach the 1,000-kill plateau in the win over the Rams.
Senior defensive specialist Abbie McPhee (Epping, N.H.) also reached a major milestone as the second-year captain became the fourth SJC player to reach the 1,000-dig mark with her second dig in the win over the Cadets.
Suffolk defeated Norwich, 3-0 (25-13, 25-23, 25-21) in the sandwich match at the Alfond Center.
Saint Joseph's def. Norwich, 3-0 (25-6, 25-4, 25-9)
The Monks made quick work of the Cadets in what was the conference-opener for both programs, as the GNAC match lasted just 56 minutes with the hosts taking control early and maintaining the lead for nearly every play.
Saint Joseph's recorded a solid .306 attack percentage, with 24 kills and just five errors in 62 attempts, en route to victory, while Norwich mustered only two kills with 25 attack errors in 72 bids for a negative .312 hitting rate.
Wachowiak led the Monks with eight kills in 15 attempts for a stellar .485 kill rate while junior Shadai Gosselin (Somersworth, N.H.) contributed six kills, junior setter Mariah Hebert (Biddeford, Maine) added 18 assists and five digs and freshman Jennelle Thompson (Farmington, N.H.) chipped in with 16 digs.
Wachowiak notched her 1,000th career kill on a Hebert pass to lift her team to a 16-6 lead over the Cadets in the second set. She tallied 17 kills later in the day in a 3-0 win over Suffolk and, with 1,017 career kills, trails only former teammate Sarah Hawkes '13 (1,107) on the Monks' all-time list.
McPhee reached the 1,000-dig milestone with her second dig of the day and – with 1,016 career digs - now only trails former teammates Erica Russi '14 (1,340), Hawkes (1,229) and Kiah Begley '13 (1,096) on the Monks' career leader docket.
For Norwich, freshman Emily Jordan (Dalton, Mass.) and senior Andrea Moreno (Newark, Del.) put up the Cadets' lone kills in the loss while junior Kristen Brewer (Hopedale, Mass.) contributed nine digs in the tri-match opener.
Saint Joseph's def. Suffolk, 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-18)
The Monks continued their high level of play in the nightcap, posting a .248 attack rate with 36 kills and 10 errors in 105 attempts on the way to posting a 3-0 triumph over the visiting-Rams.
As mentioned earlier, Wachowiak accounted for 17 of the Monks' kills in the closing match while junior Victoria Huntley (Ellsworth, Maine) boasted eight kills, a pair of aces and five digs against the Rams. Gosselin contributed five kills with 14 digs and Thompson added a match-high 26 digs in the shutout performance.
For Suffolk, freshman Rachel Fancy (Agawam, Mass.) tallied three kills and a team-high 18 digs, freshman Talia Lombardo (Windham, N.H.) totaled eight assists, three aces and nine digs, and first-year Emma Feeney (Monroe, Conn.) chipped in with 15 digs in the losing effort.
Suffolk def. Norwich, 3-0 (25-13, 25-23, 25-21)
The Rams managed to eke past the Cadets in the middle match with the help of 12 service aces – including four from Lombardo and three from Feeney – while Fancy and freshman Madison Martin (Middleburg, Fla.) dealt five kills apiece in the 3-0 triumph.
The Cadets played much better in their second appearance of the day and showed some fight in the second and third sets before eventually suffering the team's second shutout of the afternoon. Freshman Emily Oliver (Sagamore Hills, Ohio) paced her team with seven kills and sophomore Katherine Crane (Avon, N.Y.) tallied 10 assists with three service aces in the setback.
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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 474-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.
