NASHUA, NH – The Saint Joseph's College (14-4, 5-1 GNAC) volleyball team split a conference tri-match on Saturday. The Monks opened the day with a 3-0 loss at the hands of Rivier University (13-5, 3-0 GNAC) and capped the doubleheader with a 3-0 triumph over Anna Maria College (8-8, 0-2 GNAC).
Rivier def. Saint Joseph's, 3-0 (25-23, 25-12 & 25-16)
The first set of the match between the pair of teams without a loss in conference play was tightly contested with six tie scores and a pair of lead changes. The Raiders looked to pull away midway through the set and held a 20-14 advantage after Nichole Boucher notched a kill to provide the hosts with their largest lead to that point. But the Monks rallied with six of the following seven points and trailed by just one point, 21-20, following a Nicole Peacock attack error.
With the set on the line and Rivier up 24-21, Saint Joseph's made one final push with kills from Shadai Gosselin (Somersworth, N.H.) and Alli Hollander (Thermal, Calif.), but Emily O'Reilly slammed home on the next service from Gosselin to give her team a 1-0 match lead.
The second set turned out to be the opposite of the first, as the Raiders cruised to a 25-12 win en route to claiming a 2-0 match advantage.
St. Joe's showed some fight in the third set, as the Royal Blue maintained no worse than a four-point deficit until Rivier rattled off seven unanswered points to close out the match. Freshman Victoria Huntley (Ellsworth, Maine) belted three straight service aces to cut the Monks' deficit to 10-9 halfway through third frame and the visitors later trailed 18-16 after taking advantage of three consecutive Rivier attack errors, but the aforementioned seven-point string immediately followed.
For the Monks, Felicia Wachowiak (Milton, N.H.) tallied a team-high eight kills, Huntley added three kills, four aces and seven digs, Mariah Hebert (Biddeford, Maine) contributed 14 assists and Erica Russi (Debary, Fla.) registered a team-best 11 digs in the losing effort.
For the Raiders, Peacock boasted a match-high 13 kills, O'Reilly dealt 38 assists and Jessica Amaral tallied 17 digs.
Saint Joseph's def. Anna Maria, 3-0 (25-20, 25-17 & 25-14)
The Monks proceeded to make short work of the AMCATS of Anna Maria College to salvage a split and improve to 5-1 in GNAC play. Anna Maria made 20 attack errors and committed 10 service miscues while Saint Joseph's tallied 32 kills and eight aces en route to posting a shutout victory.
Wachowiak once again led the offensive front with 12 kills while Huntley posted 11 kills and six digs in the triumph. Hebert added 27 assists and Russi boasted 13 digs and four service aces.
For the Raiders, Jessica Goulet, Alex Rodriguez and Kayla Cummings netted six kills apiece and Samantha Parker registered 20 assists in a losing bid.
Saint Joseph's returns to the court on Wednesday when the team plays at Husson University in a 7:00 PM start.
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 430-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.
