Women’s Volleyball Swept by Regis College, 3-0

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College sophomore middle hitter JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) downed a team-high nine kills, but Regis College used double-digit kill efforts from Jackie Silver (West Hills, Calif.) and Olivia Foley (Andover, Mass.), and a 25-dig outing from libero Sara Gold (North Hollywood, Calif.) to spark the Pride to a 3-0 (25-13, 25-23, 25-10) sweep of the Blazers in Saturday afternoon's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's volleyball match at Picknelly Arena.

With the loss, Elms moves to 3-17 on the season, 1-5 in NECC play, while Regis improves to 10-16 overall, 3-3 in NECC action.

After falling behind, 1-0 in the contest, the sides battled to a 20-20 tie before Regis scored three straight points on kills by Vanessa Noesi (Puerto Plata, D.R.) and Megan Pratt (Rockland, Mass.) and a ball handling error by Elms to give the Pride a 23-20 lead.

The Blazers answered taking advantage of a Regis hitting error, followed by a service ace from sophomore middle hitter Christine Searles (Tolland, Mass.) to pull Elms back to within one at 23-22. After an error by both sides set the score at 24-23 in favor of the Pride, Pratt connected for another kill to seal the set, 25-23 and give Regis a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Pride stormed to a 23-7 lead before Elms strung together three straight points on a kill and a service ace by junior middle hitter Rachel Cowan (Ellington, Conn.) and a kill by Searles, but a ball handling miscue on the ensuing play followed by an attacking error by the Blazers allowed Regis to complete the sweep.

Silver and Foley finished with 13 and 10 kills respectively, while setter Marilia Ramos (Chimbote, Peru) dished out 33 assists in the win.

Elms' senior outside hitter Christina Martin (Chicopee, Mass.) led the Blazers with nine digs in the losing effort, and Searles added three service aces.

Elms is back in NECC action on Wednesday, Oct. 24 when it hosts Southern Vermont College at 7:00 p.m. at Picknelly Arena.