STANDISH, ME - Green Mountain College (5-0) battled back from a 2-0 deficit to salvage a 3-2 victory over St. Joe's (2-7) and claim the SJC Autumn Invitational Tournament Championship. Freshman setter Samantha Varrell (Portsmouth, NH) posted her second double-double of the tourney with 19 assists and 10 digs in the losing effort and Kaila Schulte '12 (Rochester, NH) recorded 11 kills for St. Joe's.

Amanda Ruel '09 (Biddeford, ME) and Jordan Pelczar '12 (Meredith, NH) both recorded eight digs and freshman Kiersten Carbone (North Reading, MA) blasted five service aces in the loss.

For Green Mountain, sophomore Olesea Cojohari (Balti, Moldova) had 25 digs and teammate Natalie Clark '10 (West Palm Beach, FL) collected 23 digs. Sophomore Emma Brinley-Buckley (Lakeville, CT) posted a double-double with 14 kills and eleven digs for the Eagles in the tourney title-game.

Both Varrell and freshman Carbone were named to the All-Tournament Team. Green Mountain's junior middle hitter Emma Brinley-Buckley (Lakeville, CT) was named the Tournament Most Valuable Player. The Eagles went a perfect 4-0 in the tourney while the Lady Monks posted a respectable 2-2 record with both losses coming against Green Mountain.

The Maine-Machias Clippers defeated Lyndon State College in the Consolation game, 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-18) to earn their first victory of the 2008 season.

SJC Autumn Invitational All-Tournament Team

MVP: Emma Brinley-Buckley, Green Mountain College
Natalie Clark, Green Mountain College
Sam Varrell, Saint Joseph's College
Kiersten Carbone, Saint Joseph's College
Jennie Hare, Maine Machias
Morgan Reilly, Lyndon State College

St. Joe's Topples Machias, 3-1

STANDISH, ME - The SJC volleyball team (2-6) defeated University of Maine at Machias (1-2), 3-1 (25-8, 25-19, 22-25, 25-23) on Saturday morning to advance the SJC Autumn Invitational championship contest against Green Mountain College (2:00 PM). Jordan Pelczar '12 (Meredith, NH) posted 11 kills, Kiersten Carbone '12 (North Reading, MA) recorded 10 kills and Samantha Varrell '12 (Portsmouth, NH) added 20 assists to help lift the Royal Blue to victory, their second of the year and the tourney.

The Lady Monks didn't lead the Clippers in the fourth set until late in the game when Katie Boccanelli '12 (Cottonwood, AL) connected on a set from Varrell to record a kill and give her team a 20-19 advantage. Machias responded and lead 23-21 after Marissa Huntley '11 (East Machias, ME) notched consecutive service aces.

The following volley resulted in a kill by Jordan Pelczar to bring St. Joe's back within one marker. SJC freshman Kaila Schulte '12 (Rochester, NH) came through in the clutch and netted back-to-back aces to give her team a one-point advantage. The Lady Monks sealed the victory on Schulte's next serve, as the volley resulted in a kill by Pelczar off an assist from Varrell.

St. Joe's will face off against Green Mountain College in the Autumn Invitational Championship match, which is slated to begin after the completion of the tournament consolation contest between Lyndon State College and Maine-Machias. Estimated start time for the championship match is 2:00 PM.