Southern Vermont Upsets Elms In NECC Volleyball Semifinal

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The second-seeded Elms College women's volleyball team had its five-match winning streak snapped by third-seeded Southern Vermont College in the New England Collegiate Conference semifinal on Friday, falling 3-2 to the Mountaineers in Picknelly Arena.

Southern Vermont (20-6) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the match with a 25-18 victory in set one before Elms (19-5) regained control of the match with a 25-23 win in set two and a 25-15 third-set win. SVC extended the match with a 25-21 fourth-set win before completing the upset with a 15-12 fifth-set win.

Four Blazers racked up double-digit kills in the match, led by senior Rachel Magnuson (Miller Place, N.Y.), who had 16 with just one error to hit .405. Ayanna Meadows (Springfield, Mass.) added 14 kills and hit .229 for the Blazers while adding a match-high 42 digs. Danielle Redding (Las Vegas, Nev.) added 13 kills and eight digs for the Blazers and Sabrina Christie (Agawam, Mass.) finished with 11 kills while hitting .333.

Dakota Stewart (Victoria, Texas) dished out 54 assists on Elms' 63 kills and added 18 digs. Kianna Lozada (Bayamon, P.R.) added 27 digs for Elms and Hannah Adams (Deerfield, Mass.) finished with 16.

Med Maddalena (Portola, Calif.) and Taryn Higareda (Rosemead, Calif.) each had a dozen kills for SVC while Lov Sowles (Sacramento, Calif.) added 11 to go with 18 digs. Sarah Baty (Portola, Calif.) finished with 33 assists and 12 digs while Heidy Benitez (Tulare, Calif.) had 40 digs and five aces.

Elms out-hit SVC .178-.138 but the Mountaineers dominated the service line, delivering 14 aces while yielding just two. Each team finished with 13 service errors, and the Blazers led in digs 121-109.

The Mountaineers advance to Sunday's NECC Championship match at Eastern Nazarene College at 2:00 p.m.