BOSTON, MA – The third-seeded Saints of Emmanuel College defeated the sixth-seeded Monks of Saint Joseph's College, 3-1, in the quarterfinals of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Women's Volleyball Tournament on Tuesday night. Senior outside hitter Jenna Ross (Centerburg, Ohio) slammed down 21 kills, including the 1,000th of her collegiate career, to lead the Saints past the Monks, 25-23, 22-25, 25-15, 25-19.
Saint Joseph's jumped out to an early lead in set one, as an ace by Brooke Dyer (Lebanon, Maine) put the Monks out in front, 10-7. Consecutive Emmanuel attacking errors, followed by another Monks' ace pushed it to a 13-8 visitors' advantage. After a quick Emmanuel timeout, Rebecca Stanton (Quincy, Mass.) powered down a kill to switch the momentum back to the other side of the net. Emmanuel then went on a 7-0 to take a 15-13 lead in the set.
The Saints continued to apply the pressure and forced the Monks into several defensive errors, as Emmanuel went up, 20-16, and forced a visitors' timeout. Out of the break, a kill by Saints junior Clare Bucci (Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.) brought the spread to 23-19 and two Stanton kills ended the set with Emmanuel taking a 25-23 win.
Set two featured the Monks again roaring out to an early lead and forcing an EC timeout with St. Joe's leading, 9-5. Strong hitting by Sarah Hawkes (Pownal, Maine) and Holly Bannister (Cumberland, Maine) gave the Monks a 16-10 advantage. A right side kill by Dyer set the score at 23-18, Monks. Two blocks by Moriah Logan (Halifax, Mass.) kept the Saints' spirits alive, by the Monks were able to finish things off on an Emmanuel serving error and St. Joe's evened the match, taking set two, 25-22.
The two clubs battled to a 7-7 tie in set three before Stanton sent back a block to give Emmanuel the edge. A Ross kill gave Emmanuel a 15-12 lead midway through the set. A powerful swing from freshman Sarah Colby (West Barnstable, Mass.) capped an 8-3 Saints' run, pushing the lead to 23-15. A rare backrow kill from Yun Ting Lee (Keelung City, Taiwan) ended the set at 25-15 and gave Emmanuel a 2-1 lead in the match.
Ross entered tonight's match 17 kills shy of 1,000 for her career. The senior captain reached the highly coveted 1,000-kill milestone early in the fourth set, when she floored a ball to give Emmanuel a 7-5 edge. Ross followed the landmark swing up with her 18th kill of the match and the Saints led 8-5. The Monks battled back to tie things up at 11-all, before Stanton put one away from the middle to give the lead back to the hosts. Stanton's kill sparked a 5-0 Saints' run and forced a timeout by the Monks at 16-11. The Saints would not relinquish the lead and powered their way to a 25-19 set four victory and a 3-1 match win.
Ross' finished the night with a match-high 21 kills in 49 swings, to go along with her 24 digs. Ross is just the fourth player in program history to reach 1,000 kills and the only Emmanuel volleyball player to notch 1,000 kills AND 1,000 digs in a career.
Stanton hit an incredible .452 on the night with 18 kills in 31 attempts. Kathryne Olsen (Fairhaven, Mass.) and Bucci tallied 6 and 5 kills, respectively. Olsen and Alison Donnelly (Longmeadow, Mass.) combined to dish out 51 assists, while Lee anchored the Emmanuel backrow with a match-high 31 digs.
The Monks were led by a solid effort from Hawkes, who had 13 kills, 16 digs and 3 blocks. Dyer added a double-double of 10 kills and 19 digs, while junior setter Kiah Begley (Berwick, Maine) dished out 31 assists in the effort.
The loss ends the Saint Joseph's College season at 18-12 overall. With the win, Emmanuel improves to 21-14 and will now advance to take on the second-seeded Raiders of Rivier College in the GNAC Semifinals. The Raiders topped the 7th seed, Lasell College, 3-0, in their quarterfinal win. The Emmanuel / Rivier semifinal match will be played at 7:00 PM on Thursday night, November 3rd, in Nashua, New Hampshire. The winner of this match will play for the GNAC Championship on Saturday.
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