Blazers Top SUNY Cobleskill, Albertus Magnus To Move To 3-0

Blazers Top SUNY Cobleskill, Albertus Magnus To Move To 3-0

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College women's volleyball team improved to 3-0 on the season with a 3-0 win over SUNY Cobleskill and a 3-1 win over Albertus Magnus on Saturday in Picknelly Arena.

The Blazers opened the day with a 25-15, 25-21, 26-24 win over the Fighting Tigers, their second in as many days. Hannah Pichardo (South Glen Falls, N.Y.) led the Blazers with 10 kills on a .375 hitting percentage in the contest while Caroline Locke  (West Springfield, Mass.) had a team-high 21 digs. Dakota Stewart (Victoria, Texas) picked up a dozen assists for Elms while Govanna Rosado (Humaco, P.R.) added 10.

Elms hit .140 in the match and held the Fighting Tigers to a .054 hitting percentage. The Blazers held an 80-75 advantage in digs and 9-8 edge in service aces. Rachel Burke led SUNY Cobleskill (0-3) with nine kills in the contest.

The Blazers wrapped up the day with a hard-fought 21-25, 25-21, 25-23, 31-29 win over a pesky Albertus Magnus squad (1-1). After splitting 25-21 decisions in the first two sets, Elms found itself down 12-2 in the third. But the resilient Blazers used a 10-1 scoring run to get right back into the set. The Blazers eventually regained the lead at 16-15 and the set saw ties at 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 before Elms pulled away for the 25-23 victory.

The Blazers pulled out another close call to seal the match with a 31-29 fourth-set victory. The marathon set featured 13 ties before Elms finished off the Falcons.

Ayanna Meadows (Springfield, Mass.) had 11 kills and 16 digs for Elms in the match. Danielle Redding (Las Vegas, Nev.) had a team-best 12 kills and added seven digs, and Rachel Magnuson (Miller Place, N.Y.) added nine kills while hitting .471. Stewart tallied 31 assists and 17 digs and Kianna Lozada (Bayamon, P.R.) finished with 22 digs.

The Blazers will wrap up their four-game season-opening home stand on Sept. 4 against Bridgewater State at 7:00 p.m.