STANDISH, Maine – Saint Joseph's College (26-5, 8-3 GNAC) swept a women's volleyball tri-match at the Harold Alfond Center on Saturday. The Monks opened the day with a 3-1 (25-16, 24-26, 25-21, 25-16) victory over conference-rival Simmons College (9-17, 6-5 GNAC) and completed the sweep with a convincing 3-0 (25-11, 25-8, 25-17) win over Maine Maritime Academy (17-12, 5-1 NAC). Maine Maritime blanked Simmons, 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-17), in the sandwich match.

With the triumph over Simmons, Saint Joseph's earns the #3 seed in the upcoming GNAC Tournament, which begins with a quarterfinal round on Tuesday. The Monks will host a familiar foe, as the Royal Blue is set to face sixth-seeded Simmons in the opening round in a 7:00 PM start.

THE LEAD – Saint Joseph's vs. Simmons College

The Monks opened strong versus the Sharks, posting a .303 attack rate in the opening set en route to taking a 25-16 win and 1-0 match lead. Simmons countered with a 26-24 second-set triumph to knot the best of five match at 1-1, but St. Joe's dug out of a four-point deficit in the third set to collect a 25-21 win and 2-1 edge. The Monks maintained the lead for the majority of the fourth set to pick up a 25-16 victory and 3-1 match triumph.

THE LEAD – Saint Joseph's vs. Maine Maritime

The Monks did not trail for the entirety of the match versus the Mariners, who posted a negative .227 attack rate with 10 kills and 35 miscues in 110 total attempts in the loss.

NOTABLES – Saint Joseph's vs. Simmons College

• Senior middle blocker Felicia Wachowiak (Milton, N.H.) belted a match-high 17 kills while posting a stellar .394 attack rate and nine total blocks (six solo)
• Junior outside hitter Victoria Huntley (Ellsworth, Maine) added 13 kills and nine digs
• Junior outside hitter Shadai Gosselin (Somersworth, N.H.) posted six kills and 16 digs
• Senior outside hitter Alli Hollander (Thermal, Calif.) chipped in with six kills and a perfect 1.000 attack rate with four block assists
• Senior defensive specialist Abbie McPhee (Epping, N.H.) totaled seven service aces and 12 digs
• Freshman libero Jennelle Thompson (Farmington, N.H.) contributed 13 digs
• Junior libero Mariah Hebert (Biddeford, Maine) tallied 34 assists – a match-high – along with seven digs
• For the Sharks, sophomore middle blocker Amber Peterson (Las Vegas, Nev.) paced the Sharks with 10 kills and added five aces and six digs, sophomore outside hitter Sarah Woodward (Deerfield, Mass.) posted nine kills and five digs, junior outside hitter Cailin Fredrickson (Columbia, Md.) tallied eight kills and 10 digs, and junior setter Andalyn Duke (Litchfield Park, Ariz.) contributed 30 assists and seven digs. Junior libero Kat Guillotte (New Bedford, Mass.) registered a match-high 21 digs.

NOTABLES – Saint Joseph's vs. Maine Maritime

• Wachowiak posted 11 kills and six total blocks (two solo)
• Thompson chimed in with a match-high 27 digs
• Hebert contributed 16 assists and four digs
• Huntley added three kills and 10 digs
• Hollander chipped in with two kills and six total blocks (two solo)
• For the Mariners, junior outside hitter Gillian O'Neal (Burbank, Calif.) netted five kills and seven digs, freshman setter Melissa Spaulding (Fairbanks, Alaska) posted two kills, six assists, a pair of aces and 13 digs, and senior libero Molly Marcotte (Woonsocket, R.I.) added 13 digs.

TEAM TOTALS – Saint Joseph's vs. Simmons College

The Monks, who posted a .228 attack rate, owned advantages in kills (44-34), assists (38-34), aces (9-7), digs (64-60) and blocks (13-2) in the victory. The Sharks, who mustered a .061 attack percentage, committed 14 service errors in the loss.

TEAM TOTALS – Saint Joseph's vs. Maine Maritime

The Monks held the lead in kills (23-10), assists (20-9), digs (62-54) and blocks (9-1) in the non-conference match, which required just over an hour to complete.

MIDDLE MATCH – Simmons vs. Maine Maritime (BOX)

The Mariners breezed past the Sharks in the sandwich match with the help of a combined total of 24 kills from O'Neal and freshman middle hitter Tess Clark (Spring, Texas). Simmons committed 20 attack errors and 10 service miscues in the setback.

For the Mariners, Spaulding dealt 27 assists with 13 digs while O'Neal added four aces and 17 digs in the victory. Fredrickson paced the Sharks with six kills while Guillotte totaled 14 digs and Duke posted 10 assists.

SENIOR MOMENT

Prior to the warm-up session for the final match of the day, the Monks held a brief ceremony to honor the program's five seniors: Hollander, Cassie Leech (Middleborough, Mass.), McPhee, Wachowiak and Sam Wright (Westport, Mass.). The 2016 volleyball graduating class has helped Saint Joseph's post a 76-47 (.618) overall record with a 27-18 (.600) mark in conference play over the past four seasons. The senior class winning percentage is the third-best and the win total is the fifth highest since 1989.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING

With the victories, Saint Joseph's improves to 5-5 versus Simmons College and is now 11-4 against Maine Maritime Academy since the start of the 1989 campaign. The Monks' win over the Sharks is the team's first since 2013. St. Joe's has now defeated the Mariners in six-consecutive meetings dating back to the 2012 season.

With 26 victories this fall, Saint Joseph's has tallied the second-most victories in a single-season and the most since 1995, when John Razsa led the Monks to a 27-10 overall record.

#GOMONKS

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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.