STANDISH, ME – Sixth-seeded Johnson & Wales University (14-18, 8-4 GNAC) defeated #3 Saint Joseph's College (22-8, 9-3 GNAC), 3-0, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Women's Volleyball Tournament quarterfinal match at the Harold Alfond Center on Wednesday evening.
With the victory, Johnson & Wales advances in the tourney and will play at #2 Emerson College in a GNAC Tournament semifinal on Friday evening. The Monks' season comes to a close with the loss.
Saint Joseph's was unable to find a rhythm in the setback as the hosts held leads in each set but would not hold a sustained advantage in the match, which was the team's first GNAC Tournament tilt at home in six seasons as a league member.
The first match stood at a 5-5 tie early on, but the Wildcats produced a 10-1 surge to assume control of the pace. The Monks netted seven of nine points down the stretch to cut their deficit to 23-19, but Johnson & Wales went on to secure a 1-0 lead after Julie Snarr (Glen Allen, Va.) belted a kill and Sarah Hawkes (Pownal, Maine) committed an attack error on the final two plays of the opening set.
Saint Joseph's started the second set with renewed vigor, but an 8-5 cushion quickly morphed into a 20-13 disadvantage when the Wildcats rattled off a 15-5 run en route to a 25-16 win. The Monks recorded only five kills as 11 of the hosts' second-stanza points came by way of Wildcats' attack errors.
With the Monks' season on the line, the third set was the most competitive of the three as the finale featured eight tie scores and three lead changes. Trailing 16-12 midway through the third stanza, St. Joe's put up three quick points, two off JWU errors and another by way of a Hawkes rejection, to make it a one-point match. The hosts looked to force at least a fourth set and tied the third on three occasions late in play, but it was not to be as the Wildcats closed out the match with a Carey Kirk (Purcellville, Va.) kill and an SJC attack error.
For the Monks, Hawkes recorded a match-high 11 kills to go with nine digs, Felicia Wachowiak (Milton, N.H.) added eight kills and three total blocks, Erica Russi (Debary, Fla.) tallied a match-best 24 kills, and Kiah Begley (Berwick, Maine/St. Thomas Aquinas) added 20 assists and five digs. Alli Hollander (Thermal, Calif.) chipped in with 13 digs and Holly Bannister (Cumberland, Maine) contributed three kills in the loss.
For the Wildcats, Kirk put up nine kills, Karlie Haack (Selkirk, N.Y.) belted eight kills, Courtney Wright (Windham, N.H.) registered seven kills and 16 digs, and Alyssa Drapeau (Biddeford, Maine) posted 13 digs, 13 assists and six kills. Kasey Higgins (Wallingford, Conn.) added 11 assists, six digs and five service aces and Giselle Cram-Ortiz (Vega Alta, Puerto Rico) chimed in with 18 digs in the tournament triumph.
Although the abrupt ending resulted in unrealized goals for the Monks, the team will eventually take solace in the fact that the 2012 campaign was one of the very best in program history. The .733 winning percentage recorded by this year's squad is the best rate ever recorded by an SJC volleyball team while the win tally is the most in 17 years. The 2012 team also shattered the program single-season records for kills (1,118), hitting percentage (.189), assists (1,012) and total blocks (186).
The season-ending loss signals the end of NCAA volleyball for Hawkes and Begley – a pair that will likely go down as two of the best players at their respective positions in team history.
Hawkes – a middle blocker - closes her career owning a bevy of program records, including the career marks for kills (1,107), digs (1,229) and total blocks (261). Begley – a setter – leaves as the program's far-and-away leader in assists (2,988) and currently ranks second all-time in digs (1,096) and third in service aces (230).
The future also looks bright as Wachowiak, a four-time GNAC Rookie of the Week honoree, obliterated the Monks' single-season hitting percentage (.318) mark and also edged SJC Hall of Fame inductee Karen Heslin '98 for the season total-blocks (95) record this fall. Russi, a team-tri captain, topped her own campaign digs record (451) by a wide margin and heads into her senior year with 965 career digs.
With 136 kills and 53 total blocks, Bannister enjoyed a solid season as a complementary player while Hollander and Abbie McPhee (Epping, N.H.) emerged as consistent contributors as freshmen.
In three seasons, Head Coach Yamile Nolan has amassed a 57-34 (.626) overall record and a 21-16 (.568) mark versus conference opponents. No coach in SJC volleyball history has recorded more victories over their first three seasons at the helm and her career winning percentage ranks second all-time.
Saint Joseph's College, founded in 1912 by the Sisters of Mercy, celebrates its Centennial year in 2012 with a theme of "Realize the Promise" – honoring our commitment to educating well-rounded graduates who combine career focus with classic liberal arts studies. A Private, Catholic, primarily residential, coeducational liberal arts institution, Saint Joseph's welcomes students of all ages and all faiths. The campus, located 18 miles northwest of Portland and just two hours from Boston, encompasses 350 acres along the shore of beautiful Sebago Lake in Standish, Maine. Enrollment ranges between 1,000 and 1,100 students annually. Saint Joseph's offers challenging academic programs in the liberal arts and sciences, education, nursing and business fields in a value-centered environment.
