Mitchell College Outlasts Women’s Volleyball, 3-2

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College junior libero Caitlyn Larvey (Greenfield, Mass.) dug a match-high 28 balls and junior middle hitter Christine Searles (Tolland, Mass.) floored a team-best 14 kills, but Mitchell College used a match-high 17-kill output from Amanda Garcia (New Britain, Conn.) and the Mariners battled back from a 2-1 deficit in the contest to secure a thrilling 3-2 (25-23, 22-25, 16-25, 27-25, 15-8) victory over the Blazers in Saturday afternoon's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's volleyball match at Picknelly Arena.

With the loss, Elms moves to 6-19 overall, 2-6 in NECC action, while Mitchell improves to 9-12 on the season, 4-4 in conference play.

After falling behind in the match, Elms won sets two and three and battled to a 24-24 tie in the fourth frame. A kill by Amanda Rowan (Sandy Hook, Conn.) gave Mitchell a 25-24 lead, but Elms' junior outside hitter Alexandra Mack (Wilbraham, Mass.) offset that with a kill of her own to knot the stanza at 25-25. A Blazers' ball handling error and an attacking error by Elms allowed the Mariners to post a 27-25 win in the set and force a decisive fifth set.

Mitchell stormed out to an early 7-2 lead but two errors and an ace from Larvey allowed Elms to pull to within three at 8-5. With the score set at 12-8 following a Mariners' service error, the Mariners used kills from Barbara Fontes (Stratford, Conn.) and Nicole Caminiti (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) to clinch the match.

Pickett finished with 13 kills and Mack added 11, while senior opposite hitter Rachel Cowan (Ellington, Conn.) floored five kills and collected eight digs in the losing effort.

Elms' sophomore setter Shannon Bolton (Shelton, Conn.) dished out 39 assists and added 15 digs, while Pickett contributed 13 digs of her own. Mack served up seven aces and chipped in eight digs, while Searles struck for five aces.

Gloria Charles (New Haven, Conn.) led the defensive effort for Mitchell with 19 digs, while Taylor Dansereau (Griswold, Conn.) followed with 13. Jessica Ware (Uncasville, Conn.) and Caminiti finished with 11 and 10 digs respectively, while Caminiti also handed out 38 helpers and four aces.