Women's Volleyball Sweeps Southern Vermont

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College women's volleyball handled visiting Southern Vermont in a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) match, defeating the Mountaineers, 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-21), at Picknelly Arena Thursday night. With the win, Elms improves to 5-15 overall, and 2-1 in conference play, while Southern Vermont drops to 0-4 in the NECC, and 4-16 on the season.

The Blazers raced to a 5-1 lead in the first set, and then a kill from sophomore Danielle Redding (Las Vegas, Nev.) handed Elms a 7-4 advantage. Trailing 9-5, the Mountaineers closed the gap with four straight points to even the frame at 9-9. The Blazers regained control with behind kills from sophomore Caroline Locke (West Springfield, Mass.) and freshman Hannah Adams (Deerfield, Mass.) which sparked a 6-1 run by Elms to build a 15-10 lead. The Mountaineers used kills from freshman Tay Phillips (Stephentown, N.Y.) and senior Brin Goldman (St. Croix, Virgin Islands) to cap a 4-0 run to whittle the gap to 16-14. The Blazers closed the set strong with a 9-2 run, featuring a pair of aces from senior Carolyn Campbell (Millers Falls, Mass.) and two kills from junior Kate Moriarty (Agawam, Mass.) to hand Elms the 25-16 win.

Redding delivers three kills early in the second set as Elms grabbed an 8-3 lead. The Mountaineers fought back behind three straight kills from freshman Sarah Billow (South Glen Falls, N.Y.) to pull within three points, 10-7. Redding continued to pace the Blazers offense with three more kills, followed by an ace from Adams to push Elms ahead 18-8. The Blazers held off Southern Vermont as Redding and freshman Haley Asselin (South Hadley, Mass.) notched kills with another ace from Campbell en route to the 25-17 victory.

In the third set, the Blazers netted the first four points of the frame, followed by strikes from Redding and Moriarty to develop an 8-4 lead. Moriarty and Adams added tallies as Elms used a 7-3 run to padded the cushion to 15-7. A pair of kills from Redding pushed the Blazers lead to 18-12, but Southern Vermont mounted a final comeback attempt with a 6-3 run to cut the deficit to 21-18. Elms capitalized on Mountaineers errors, along with a kill from Adams to close out the 25-21 set win, and three-set sweep.

Redding powered the Blazers offense with a double-double effort of a match-high 14 kills and 15 digs with two service aces. Adams contributed seven kills, 13 digs and three aces, while Moriarty added six kills and four digs. Locke grabbed a team-high 17 digs, while Campbell dished out a match-high 32 assists in the win.

The Mountaineers were led by Billow with a team-high six kills and 11 digs. Freshman Gaby Oropeza (Riverside, Calif.) had 13 digs with four kills, sophomore Lizzy Bench (St. Petersburg, Fla.) snared a match-high 20 digs, and Goldman tallied 14 assists with two kills.

The Blazers will return to the court with a NECC road trip to Daniel Webster Saturday afternoon for a 1:00 p.m. match. Southern Vermont heads to Regis for a conference tilt Saturday at 11:00 a.m.

ELMS VOLLEYBALL