Mitchell Defeats Women's Volleyball in Five Sets

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College women's volleyball team wrapped up the 2014 season with a thrilling 3-2 win over Elms College on Saturday night in New England Collegiate Conference play at the Yarnall Athletic Center.

The Mariners (6-16 overall, 2-6 NECC) won by set scores of 25-17, 21-25, 24-26, 25-21 and 15-10. Freshman Myia Williams (Roselle, N.J./Roselle)led three Mitchell players in double figures with a season-high 15 kills while junior Amanda Garcia (New Britain, Conn./New Britain) added 14 and sophomore Amanda Rowan (Sandy Hook, Conn./Newtown) tacked on a season-high 13.

Elms (5-20 overall, 2-6 NECC) was led by senior outside hitter Christine Searles (Tolland, Mass./Southwick-Tolland Regional), who finished with eight kills and a block. Freshman middle hitter Lindsey McNiff (Kingston, R.I./Silver Lake Regional) and freshman right side Ashlee Connors (Springfield, Mass./SABIS International Charter) each contributed six kills while senior libero Caitlyn Larvey (Greenfield, Mass./Greenfield) produced a match-high 25 digs.

Mitchell came out strong to start the match and never trailed in the opening set. The Mariners didn't commit a hitting error in the stanza en route to 13 total kills that included four from Williams and three each from Garcia, Rowan and freshman Janelle Rice (Meriden, Conn./O.H. Platt).

Elms bounced back to take the next two sets to grab control of the match. In the second set, the Blazers trailed 20-18 before going on a 7-1 run to close out the stanza. Searles swung the momentum from the service stripe as she rallied her squad to six straight points to bring on set point. In a back-and-forth third set, Elms took advantage of a pair of Mitchell errors in the closing moments to pull out a two-point win.

The Mariners had to dig out of an early hole in the fourth set after Connors served Elms out to a 7-0 lead. However, Mitchell won nine of the next 11 points to tie the set at 9-9, and later in the stanza a serving spree by junior Nicole Caminiti (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Churchill School & Center)turned a one-point lead into seven at 22-15. The Mariners closed out the set on a kill by Rowan to even the match at 2-2.

In the deciding fifth set, the score was tied at 9-9 when Mitchell made its move. A 5-0 spurt by the Mariners included a pair of kills from Williams and a service ace from freshman Lauren Tompkins (Prospect, Conn./Woodland) to bring on match point, and then Williams delivered her final kill of the night to seal the win.

Caminiti tied a career high with 47 assists to pace the Mitchell offense. The Mariners hit a season-high .231 as a team and also produced their highest kills total (55) of the year. Both Caminiti and junior Kaisea Caramante (Old Lyme, Conn./Lyme-Old Lyme) each recorded 19 digs on the defensive side.