Regis Outlasts Women’s Volleyball, 3-1
CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College junior outside
hitter Stacy
Croteau (Agawam, Mass.) downed a team-high nine kills
but Regis College received a combined 36 kills from Meghan
McCarty (Billerica, Mass.) and Angelica Endara
(Boca Raton, Fla.) to help lift the Pride to a hard-fought
3-1 (25-17, 25-10, 23-25, 27-25) victory over the Blazers in
Wednesday evening's non-conference women's volleyball match at
Picknelly Arena.
With the loss, Elms falls to 3-12 on the season, while Regis improves to 5-13 overall.
Trailing 2-0 in the match and 21-16 in the third set, Elms went on a furious rally, scoring six of the next seven points to knot the frame at 22-22 highlighted by a pair of kills from junior outside hitter Jenn Rego (Fall River, Mass.) and one each from senior middle hitter Laura Kulig (Holyoke, Mass.) and Croteau. Regis' Vanessa Noessi (Methuen, Mass.) floored a kill to briefly end the rally and give the Pride a 23-22 lead, but three consecutive attacking errors allowed the Blazers to claim a 25-23 victory in the set and force a fourth stanza.
The fourth set saw the teams play to three ties and four lead changes to set the score at 21-21 with neither squad gaining more than a five-point advantage during the stretch. A pair of kills from Rego helped the Blazers to a 24-22 lead before a service error followed by a service ace by the Pride's Sara Gold (North Hollywood, Calif.) evened the set at 24-24. With the score tied 25-25, Caitlyn Walsh (Taunton, Mass.) downed a service ace and McCarty added her match-best 19th kill of the contest to seal the victory for Regis.
Endara finished with 17 kills and 16 digs in the match while Walsh dug a match-high 20 balls in the winning effort. Megan Pratt (Rockland, Mass.) added 14 digs and Randi Garrity (Reading, Mass.) dished out a match-high 35 assists.
Elms, which fell behind 2-0 in the match, rallied on the strength of stellar offensive efforts from Croteau (nine kills) and Rego (eight kills). Freshman setter Ashley Fuller (Amherst, Mass.) directed the attack with 27 assists.
Fuller also turned in team-best 18 digs while Croteau added 15. Senior middle hitter Melissa Clark (Chicopee, Mass.) and Rego added 13 and 10 digs respectively in the losing effort.
Elms opens New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action on Saturday, Oct. 2 when it hosts Becker College and non-conference foe Mount Ida College in tri-match action. First-serve against the Hawks is set for 12:00 p.m. with start time against the Mustangs set for 4:00 p.m. at Picknelly Arena.
